Beyond the Best
by Worldwriter
Summary: Ash has always wanted to be a Pokémon master. And along with his faithful Pikachu, Bagon and Riolu will work to be the best. Beyond the best. This is going to have a Aura, Smart, Ash that doesn't use Pikachu for everything.. This is my first fanficion cut me some slack. Don't flame me. Furthershipping. Ash x Leaf
1. The Beginning

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon (surprise, surprise!)**

This is a re-release of the original chapter. I am back! Sorry for the year-long wait guys! I'm going to get the next chapter within 14 months of the original release, wait, I've already screwed that up! Let me try and finish the second chapter.

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic speech_ ' = Telepathy

* * *

Two figures stood in an open forest. One was a short, bipedal canine and the other was a taller human. The short canine's name was Riolu, the Emanation Pokémon and the pre-evolved form of Lucario. It stood at 2'4, had black fur on his legs and a black torso, with light blue fur between the two resembling shorts. The Riolu had a blue tail, blue face with black fur around its eyes which resembled a mask. It also had two blue appendages around its head.

The human's name was 12-year old Ash Ketchum. An aspiring, future Pokémon trainer who was wearing a dark black t-shirt with a single thick, yellow stripe across his sleeves of the T-shirt which was white as was the collar. He also wore a red baseball cap with a black had a light blue pokéball shape imprinted on the front (it's basically the Sinnoh outfit).

"Riolu use **Sky Uppercut** on the boulder," the young trainer commanded as Riolu's fist glowed a bright white and slammed into the underside of the enormous boulder, shattering it to pieces.

"Alright, Riolu use **Blaze kick** on that tree!" Ash commanded as the young Riolu's leg caught on fire and swung into the boulder, causing the top half to launch to the side and the bottom half to be set on fire.

"Now use **Rain dance** ," Riolu put both palms out and a dark blue sphere started growing out of thin air. Riolu shot the ball into the air and raindrops started falling, extinguishing the fire.

"Alright, Riolu use **Sunny Day** please," Ash asked as the rain started becoming heavier. Riolu put his palms out again and a pure white orb started growing in his hand - out of thin air like the **Rain Dance** \- before it became a beam and was shot up into the air clearing the clouds.

"Good job Riolu! You've mastered both **Blaze Kick** , **Sunny day** and **Rain Dance**. Those two TMs certainly didn't go to waste!" Ash said, praising the Pokémon and about to order another move before looking at his watch and realising the time, "Alright, Riolu training's over. Mum will go ballistic if we don't get home in half an hour. She said that I should be home 8:00 and it's already 7:47! C'mon Riolu! Let's see who'll get there first!"

Both Ash and Riolu started dashing towards Pallet Town, Ash tailing behind Riolu, who started glowing white and shooting across the path as a blur,

"Hey, you're using **Agility**!" Ash shouted, trying to keep up although the winner of the race was crystal clear long before they would reach the town.

* * *

"Well you did come home before 8:00," Ash's mother, Delia Ketchum, said, looking at the clock, Ash was only two minutes from the deadline, "so, I guess you weren't late but you should have come home earlier, the days are starting to get shorter you know."

"Thanks, mum, I was at the edge of the forest so it took a while to get here," the boy said with a sheepish grin.

"Oh Ash, I just remembered a few familiar faces just moved in today! So, why don't you go visit them tomorrow, okay? They live next-door to Gary? I'll be in the kitchen if you need me," Delia said before entering the kitchen, "Oh, and don't forget to pack your bag."

Ash ran upstairs and opened his wardrobe, trying to decide which clothes he'd take on his journey, he started packing his bag for tomorrow, the day he starts his Pokémon journey.

* * *

Ash laid on his bed, reading a dark sapphire blue book: Aura for Beginners. Ash had the peculiar gift of Aura, an energy that flows through all living beings. Ash was part of the small fraction of the world (known as the Aura Guardians) that both knew of aura and was able to utilise it to it's fullest potential. All living beings could use the energy to an extent but would need a teacher from the believed-to-be-extinct aura guardians. Ash's eyes widened as he saw a title in the book 'Using Pokémon moves.'

'A lesser known ability of aura guardians is the ability to use Pokémon moves. To even use the simplest of Pokémon moves, an aura guardian needs years of both experience and training. The first believed aura guardian to ever perform a Pokémon move was Sir Alex, an aura user who was able to use the moves ' **Thunder Punch** ' and ' **Fire Punch** '. This renowned aura guardian was supposed to tutor the next line of aura guardian, however, he died of heart attack before teaching another guardian. Many others have tried and failed to learn how to use a Pokémon attack themselves. However, only four aura users have been recorded to use Pokémon moves'

'Guess I better get ready,' Ash thought before walking down the corridor and entering the bathroom to take a shower. After he finished, he got dressed into a black T-shirt with a dark blue overcoat over it, light blue jeans and a red and white baseball cap with a green L on the front (Kanto outfit.) The 12-year-old then rushed downstairs to start preparing breakfast. He decided to bake blueberry muffins so he pulled out the ingredients from the cabinets and picked some blueberries from his garden before laying them out on the counter. After he'd made the cake batter and put it in the oven, he went back upstairs and woke Riolu from his nap.

* * *

"Hey, Riolu!" Ash said, expecting the canine-like Pokémon to wake up, "Do you want to train with me outside?"

' _Training, let's go_!' Riolu said through an aura bond, as he stretched and dashed down the stairs and into the front yard with Ash behind him.

"Alright, Riolu use **A** **gility** to the end of that path and back," Ash commanded, Riolu disappeared and a blue and black blur sped towards the end of the track and back towards Ash's house.

"C'mon Riolu, you're even slower than before," the raven-haired boy said, pressing a button on the stopwatch which displayed '2.23 seconds' on the screen, "Let's try again."

They both kept training until the muffins were ready. After eating the muffins, the two both relaxed and watched TV, the highlights of the Indigo League. Ash and Riolu watched as a Gengar and Nidorino fought on the screen.

* * *

"Nidorino use **Shadow Ball**!" commanded the trainer on the blue side. A dark purple blob started to form in the Nidorino's mouth before the other trainer shouted.

"Intercept with **Sludge Bomb** , Gengar!" the trainer on the red side said.

A dark purple blob started to form in the Nidorino's mouth whilst the ghost-type's mouth opened and globs of sludge started launching out of Gengar's mouth. The sludge hit the Nidorino before the **Shadow Ball** was launched causing it to explode whilst forming.

"Nidorino, **Horn Attack**! Quick!"

" **Psychic** , Gengar!"

The poison-type charged at the Gengar with its horn pointed forward but it was stopped in its tracks and outlined in blue. Nidorino cried out in pain before being flung over to the other side of the stadium.

"You do know that normal-type tracks don't affect ghost-types," the Gengar's trainer said as Nidorino was slammed into the wall of the stadium.

* * *

Ash glanced at the clock and realised the time. If he kept watching TV, he'd be late. He switched the TV off and grabbed his backpack which was full of food, pokéfood, various health recovery items and various other supplies. Sprinting out of the door, Ash and Riolu kept running towards The Pokémon Lab, where he'd receive his Pokedéx.

* * *

The Pokémon Lab was a large white building with a red roof. Behind it was an enormous field, made to safely keep Pokémon when their trainers didn't have enough space in their party. The field had a large area for each type of Pokémon on the field, there was also a large windmill to create all the pokéfood. Ash ran up to the doorsteps, he took a deep breath before he went inside, Riolu following behind. Ash sat in one of the seats and started listening to the Professor's speech.

"As you all know, once you've collected all eight gym badges you'll be able to enter the Pokémon League. Once you've won that and are the Pokémon League winner, you may take the Elite Four Challenge where one of you may become a Pokémon Champion. I know that I'm looking at future league champions and possibly a Pokémon champion in these three rows," he said looking at the rows of children listening to the speech, "However, I know some of you would like more than the title of Kanto's Champion, the title of Pokémon Master."

"That's what I'm going to be!" Professor Oak heard someone shout from the back.

"To even apply for the Grand Master Tournament held to decide the Pokémon Master, you must finish any major tournament or league as 1st place. After this you will face one of the greatest challenges as a Pokémon trainer, the Grand Master Tournament is for top trainers from around the world. If you can even enter this tournament - and win - you can face the current Pokémon Master, Jacob Smith. A trainer of extraordinary power, the reason he was able to keep his title for four tournaments in a row. The next tournament is in four years. So you all better start training! Now it is time, for every one of you to gain your starter Pokémon." He said, revealing 24 pokéballs. "As you can see there are three rows one for each of the Starter Pokémon: Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle," The Kanto Professor said throwing three pokéballs, releasing a Bulbasaur, a Charmander and a Squirtle.

"(Wait, what do I do? Oh wait they don't understand,)" Bulbasaur said in pokéspeech, sighing when he realised he didn't need to say anything.

"(Let's do this!)" The Charmander squealed before looking at the rows of trainers-to-be.

"(I wonder who'll choose me?)" Squirtle asked itself before the professor started to speak.

"I hope you all choose a wonderful Pokémon and become the pride of Kanto," the Professor then recalled the Squirtle, Charmander and Bulbasaur before walking through the crowd of 12-year-olds and talking to Ash, "Alright let me get your Pokémon Ash, Pikachu will kill me if he knows he's been in his Pokéball longer then needed."

The old professor walked to the back of the lab and picked two Pokéballs that were isolated from the rest, before returning back and handing the pokéballs over to the raven-haired boy. He also handed over two pieces of tech, one red and the other a yellow, which confused Ash as he was only meant to receive a Pokédex - which he knew was the red one.

"I've healed both Pikachu and Bagon if you're wondering. I'm sure you know I must give a Pokédex to each and every trainer that receives their starter from me. However, I think after all your hard work helping me research the Pokémon, I thought you've earned a Pokénav, prototype of the newest model in fact. I'm meant to give one of the two I have to a trainer who I think deserves it and you deserve it more than anyone else. It was extremely hard to choose a trainer other than you. In fact, I'm sure you know the trainer quite well, Why don't you guess?" Oak said.

'Gary was the professor's grandson, that would make sense' Ash thought before asking the professor if he was right.

"Really Ash? He may be my grandson but that makes him arrogant, a Pokénav will just give him another reason to brag," The professor replied, chuckling at the thought of Gary having something else to brag about.

"Actually... I can't think of anyone else," Ash said, was it an old friend from when he was younger?

'I should scan my Pokémon,' Ash thought, as he pulled out his Pokédex and released Bagon and Pikachu.

"I was wondering when you'll let me out," Bagon said as the scanner went on to him.

 **Bagon, The Rock-Head Pokémon and the first stage of the Salamence evolutionary family. Although it is small, this Pokémon is very powerful because its body is a bundle of muscles. It launches headbutts with its iron-like skull. This Bagon is level 14 with the ability Rock Head. It is a Male who is adamant and knows the following moves: Rage, Ember, Leer, Bite, Dragon Breath. It has the following egg moves: Dragon Rush, Dragon Pulse and Fire Fang.**

 **Pikachu, The Electric Mouse Pokémon and the pre-evolution of Raichu. It stores electricity in the electric sacs in its cheeks. It releases pent-up energy in bursts, the electric power is equal to a lightning bolt. Pikachu is level 15 with the ability Static. It is a Male who is mild and knows the following moves: Tail Whip, ThunderShock, Growl, Play Nice, Quick Attack, and Electro Ball. It has the following egg moves: Volt Tackle and Thunder Punch.**

Ash was impressed, **Volt Tackle** was a move that can only be learnt by Pikachu. You'd need the father Pikachu to hold a light ball (which doubles the attack and special attack of the Pikachu holding it) whilst breeding with another Pikachu (an odd thought if you pictured it.) Ash moved the scanner to Riolu, who was standing beside Ash.

' **Riolu, The Emanation Pokémon and the pre-evolved form of Lucario. It has the peculiar power of being able to see emotions such as joy and rage in the form of waves via Aura. This Riolu is level 17 and has the ability Steadfast. It is male who is Hardy and knows the following moves: Endure, Quick Attack, Foresight, Counter, Feint, Force Palm, Rain Dance and Sunny Day. It has the following egg moves: Sky Uppercut, Agility, Blaze Kick, Cross Chop, Bullet Punch and Detect.'**

Ash whistled, as he saw the moves, specifically the egg moves. Six egg moves, he only knew about Blaze Kick and Agility! Ash connected the fact that he saved Riolu from a Breeder to this, but six!

'Mum said that some familiar faces moved in yesterday. Might as well greet them before I leave,' Ash thought as he started walking towards the exit. Suddenly, the door swung open and a girl, who was wearing a sleeveless light blue blouse, a red mini skirt, long sky blue socks and white fedora with a red pokéball imprinted on the front, dashed into the lab.

"Oh shit, sorry Professor, I just moved in yesterday! Are all the Bulbasaurs taken?" The girl asked, panic and exhaustion evident in her voice.

'These must be the people who've moved in, who could...?' Ash thought before his eyes widened as he tied the voice to her. That soft voice was a voice Ash thought he'd never hear again, not after she left six years ago. It couldn't be the girl he'd been best friends with ever since he could remember: Leaf Green.

"No, there are plenty left. Why don't you go pick one Leaf, I expected you'd come late?" the Professor answered with a soft laugh.

Leaf ran towards the table of pokéballs and released one of the Bulbasaur and started talking to it. Before returning it and running back.

"I've chosen him, Professor Oak," she said returning from the long table of pokéballs.

"I've also got a gift for you," the professor said putting both the red and yellow machines in her hand, "Here, the red is a Pokédex and the yellow is a Pokénav. The Pokédex is mandatory however the Pokénav isn't. I've only been given two and should to give it to two trainers who deserved it. Think of it as a welcome present, welcome back Leaf!"

"Thanks, Professor Oak. It's good to be back from Sinnoh and you can count on me!" she grinned at the professor before leaving the lab.

Ash recalled Bagon to his Pokéball and let Pikachu sit on his shoulder whilst Riolu would follow behind him. Ash understood that the familiar faces were definitely Leaf and her mother.

'Knowing Leaf, she'd probably have left to say goodbye to her mother. Mum said that they lived next-door to Gary. I'll go say hi to her and her mum,' Ash thought before deciding to go and talk to Leaf and her mother.

* * *

"Yes, who is it?" Ash heard a joyful voice ask as he knocked on the

"I'm Ash Ketchum, I heard someone moved in here yesterday."

"Oh Ash, don't you remember me?" The voice asked as the door opened revealing a woman in her mid to late 30s, wearing a dark green blouse that reached her ankles, "I'm Leaf's mother."

"Really? Your voice has changed a lot," Ash said, pretending to be surprised since saying that you had been watching them silently was creepy "Mum said familiar faces moved in, I didn't expect it to be you though. So if you're here, where's Leaf?"

"Oh, she's just packing her clothes upstairs, why don't you go and greet her, I'm sure she'll love it." Leaf's mother said before she walked into the kitchen.

Ash walked upstairs and stood in front of Leaf's bedroom, it's been a long time since he'd seen his childhood crush again.

"Hey Leaf, it's me, Ash. I just came to say hi to you," Ash said, knocking on the door.

Ash started thinking about his childhood before Leaf left. He started to remember how competitive they use to be with each other, always trying to one-up the other. The races they use to have, how high they could climb on trees (which Ash always use to win) and the pseudo-battles they use to have with the Pokémon at the field. Ash laughed at how competitive they use to be, he wondered whether Leaf would still be as competitive as she once was.

'Would Leaf travel with me?' Ash thought as he waited for the door to open, 'I should ask later.'

Ash kept thinking until the door opened, and revealed Leaf who was still wearing the clothes she wore at the lab. The girl had an awkward smile as she opened the saw Ash in front of her.

"So erm, Ash," Leaf said, starting to walk down the stairs, "what are you doing here?"

"Well, my mum said some familiar faces had moved in, so I thought I should say hi. But since it's you, we might as well catch up, we haven't seen each other for years. So, did anything interesting happen to you?" Ash answered, following Leaf.

"Why don't you start Ash, after all, I'm sure you've had much more interesting stories. You always used to get us in trouble, I'm sure that hasn't stopped when I left," Leaf said, seeming to not want to talk about her time in Sinnoh although Ash didn't notice.

"Well, a few months after you left, I went to Professor Oak's summer camp again. Since it was the 25th time it has been held, we had a treasure hunt with a Pokémon partner. Professor Oak allowed me to use a Bagon - who is the first form of Salamence which is a pseudo-legendary in Hoenn - in the treasure hunt. Since Bagon was sought after in the Hoenn region as it could only be found behind a waterfall in Meteor Falls, we encountered a group of poachers who tried to steal Bagon from me. They stole Bagon and started heading for a truck, which I think was their getaway vehicle..."

"And..." Leaf motioned for him to continue.

"And, then I just blacked out. When I woke up, the vehicle was burning and looked as if it crashed and the engine had caught fire, all poachers were dead and had burn injuries on them and Bagon was on my face trying to wake me up," Ash said, remembering the scent of burning corpses and almost gagging on the memory, "Riolu told me I was an aura user, otherwise known as the aura guardians. Aura guardians can use Aura, no surprise there, which is an energy flowing through all living beings. Anyone can learn it but only an aura guardian can use Aura to its highest potential, both offensive and defensive, and are supposed to be extinct since around 600 years ago. I'm only a beginner since I didn't have a mentor, just a book, and only have a few things mastered. Like making my hand glow blue, aura sight, shooting small projectiles, reading emotions, aura instinct and telepathy, sort of."

"Alright, as great as that is. Could you explain the aura sight and aura instinct?" Leaf asked, wondering what those abilities do, "I mean, the emotion-reading and telepathy are pretty clear-cut. Although, you did say 'telepathy, sort of'"

"Aura sight is like how some animals can see heat, thermo-vision I think, it allows me to use my aura and see it in everyone. In other words, I could find the stealthiest man in the world just using my aura vision. I say sort of after the telepathy because to use telepathy, you must set up an aura connection or thought link, and it needs a lot of power. I can only understand Riolu because he was able to keep the link going. But since I can read emotions I guess all isn't bad. And finally, we have aura instinct, when an aura guardian goes through something tragic, dangerous or something that could kill them Aura instinct kicks in. When someone is using aura instinct they lose complete control (unless they've mastered it) and would do anything to complete their goal. If a family member or someone close got hurt really bad, the motive would be to protect them and get them to safety." Ash explained.

"Jeez, Ash, how much more anime protagonist can you get. You have some magic power to separate you from the rest and that power will make you super powerful if you're in danger. If I didn't know your dad worked internationally as a ranger and came to visit you once a year (he does do that, right) I'd have thought you would go and try to prove your self and try to hunt him down." Leaf said, remembering a few animes she had watched recently.

Ash laughed a bit at the reference, they must have still shared the same taste in anime, "Alright Leaf, I should head off. If I want to be at Viridian City before sunset, I should start moving."

"Wait!" Leaf shouted, stopped Ash from exiting through the door, "Let's battle!"

"I'm sure it'll be good practice, so okay! I choose you, Bagon!" Ash said as he released Bagon. The two walked outside and into Leaf's front garden.

* * *

"Alright go Bulbasaur!" Leaf said, tossing the ball into the air causing Bulbasaur to jump out of the ball.

"Bagon start it off with **Fire Fang**!"

"Bulbasaur, use **Growl**!"

Bagon launched the grass-poison Pokémon, it's teeth set on fire. Bulbasaur growled at Bagon, who started glowing a dark-purple, meaning its attacks were lowered. Bagon's teeth sunk into Bulbasaur's skin and the grass starter yelped in pain before trying to shake Bagon off.

"Keep trying to shake it off, Bulbasaur!"

" **Dragon Breath** , Bagon!"

The green flames hit Bulbasaur while it was still trying to wriggle out of Bagon's mouth, but to no avail.

"Bagon, let Bulbasaur out!"

Bagon's fangs released Bulbasaur, who tried to get up to his feet but failed.

"Bagon, use **Rage**!"

Bagon started glowing a deep red before it's arm smashed into Bulbasaur, causing it to faint.

"Sorry Leaf, for it being a one-sided battle, but I've been training Bagon for a few months whilst you've only had it for less than a day. He only levelled up when a flock of Spearow attacked us or random Rattatas tried stealing from us, which you'll be surprised to find how common it is. I'm sure the level difference will be smaller next time." Ash said recalling Bagon.

"Well, if it wasn't you that beat me, I'd have been a little annoyed. Anyway, I'm going to the Pokémon Lab to use the healing machine, wait for me! I want to ask you something!" She said, returning her Pokémon before sprinting towards the Pokémon Lab.

'I wonder what she wants to ask me, well I may as well do some training,' Ash thought

"Well, Pikachu do you want to train for a while?" Ash asked the yellow mouse who was perched on his shoulder.

' _Alright let's do it! Can I learn **Iron Tail**? My mother used to show me it!_ ' the mouse replied through the link.

"Alright Pi, if like most steel-type moves you need to strengthen your muscles, **Iron Tail** needs your tail on something with a high endurance, like a boulder or tree. So Pikachu, try to slice the tree with your tail!"

Pikachu jumped into the air, curling into a ball to gain momentum before uncurling and swinging his tail into the tree causing it to shudder.

"Well done, Pikachu! You've got power but not accuracy, if you hit the tree at the right point you'd have knocked it down. Try hitting these pebbles. Make sure you put all your power into each swing, the more you do it, the stronger you do it. But still, remember to hit as many pebbles as you can,"

Ash started collecting pebbles, before throwing them at Pikachu, who swung them back with his tail. Pikachu started making cracks in the pebbles after a few minutes and Ash pulled a red band out of his backpack and put it on Pikachu's wrist. Pikachu started to walk over to Ash but was a bit slower than normal due to the Power Bracer.

"Sorry Pikachu, but the Power Bracer helps you gain attack EVs and those help your physical attacks get stronger. Plus I do have two of each type from that competition of Pokémon knowledge a few years ago. So in case, we might need these again, try to get used to them," Ash said, remembering that quiz-like tournament for the under 10's of Pallet Town. 'I should use these on Pikachu and Bagon. Wait, why didn't I stick these on Pikachu when the Spearow flocks invaded?'

Ash pulled out his Pokédex, scanned Pikachu and pressed one of the extra buttons showing the statistics, EVs and IVs.

 **STATS**

 **HP: 44, Attack: 32, Defence: 21, Special Attack: 25, Special Defence: 23, Speed: 41**

 **IV's**

 **HP: 31, Attack: 31, Defence: 31, Special Attack: 31, Special Defence: 31, Speed: 31**

 **EV's**

 **HP: 0 Attack: 64 Defence: 0 Special Attack: 0 Special Defence: 0 Speed: 256**

Once Ash looked at the machine's screen, he recalled the dream he had the day he met Pikachu.

* * *

Ash stood in a pure white area. There was nothing but an endless, ivory white void in every direction.

"Mommy! Mommy, where are you? Where am I?" A five-year-old Ash said, spinning around trying to find something. Then, a dark yellow void appeared and a goat-like Pokémon with a yellow ring around its body appeared.

The Pokémon's name was Arceus, the Alpha Pokémon and the 'original' Pokémon. He was a white centaur-shaped Pokémon with a grey underbelly. It had a long neck with two white extrusions and it's pointed feet were tipped with gold hooves. It had a long black and white mane that blew upwards, it faces grey with green eyes and red pupils. It had a cross-wheel around its abdomen with four jewels in the middle of each cross in its ring.

' _Do not worry little one,'_ Arceus said via telepathy.

"Woah, you can talk! That's awesome!" The small raven-haired child said, jumping with excitement.

 _'I am Arceus, the creator of the universe. I have a wonderful destiny for you, future Pokémon Master.'_

Ash's eyes widened hearing the words Pokémon Master, "I'm going to be a Pokémon Master, yes!"

Arceus smiled at the young boy's reaction, ' _If you train properly with your Pokémon, you can be a Pokémon Master, League champion or a top coordinator. This is the reason, you found and saved Pikachu, not because of luck but destiny. I specifically made Pikachu be stronger and faster than any of its species. Once he levels up he'll be able to rival my legendary council. On the subject, once you've started your journey I'd like to give you a legendary Pokémon. This is to show my legendary council, you can be trusted. None of the council believes you deserve becoming the title 'Chosen One'. But she believed in you and still does. Goodbye, Ash. Behave well and show my council and the world what the future Pokémon-master and the Chosen One can do. I'll see you again once you start your journey!'_

* * *

"Didn't Arceus say I'd acquire a legendary Pokémon?" Ash said as he snapped out of his thoughts.

' _Deep in thought, Ash? I've got the basics of Iron Tail down!_ ' the rodent squeaked, excited because of its new move.

"Well done, Pi! Shouldn't Leaf be back by now?" Ash said as he looked around for the brunette.

"Bulbasaur use **Leech Seed**!" Ash heard a familiar voice say. Ash started running towards the voice and ran towards where he expected the voice to come from.

"Spear Spearow!" Ash heard before stopping and looking at Pikachu, whose cheeks were already sparking.

"Pi, if there's only one, leave it to Leaf. If there's more, take them down." Ash said pulling a blue band with a lens on it and replacing the Power Bracer with the Power Lens, "Let's get that Special Attack up."

Ash brushed a branch out of his way and in a clearing he saw Leaf. Bulbasaur and a Spearow were duelling against each other sending Pecks and Tackles on each side. What Ash and Leaf didn't notice were the flocks of Spearow watching the battle, caution evident in their expressions.

"Use **Vine Whip** , swing it into a tree!" Leaf called out, close to finishing the battle due to Spearow's slow movement.

"(No, those trees are super sturdy! You know how much that's doing to hurt?)" the Spearow cried out.

Vines sprouted from under Bulbasaur's bulb and latched onto one of Spearow's talons, startling the tiny bird Pokémon as it soared towards Bulbasaur. Spearow then used the momentum from before and started pecking at Bulbasaur rapidly. However, the grass type swung the bird into a tree, effectively fainting it.

"Go, Pokéball!" the brunette said as she pulled an empty Pokéball from her bag and tossed it at the Spearow. It shook once, then twice, then a third time before a light ping was heard. Leaf ran towards the Pokéball and put it on her Pokéball belt. Ash then went forward into the clearing, letting Leaf know he was there.

"Nice catch, Leaf!" Ash said, congratulating Leaf on her catch.

"Oh sorry, Ash. When I was coming here, a few Pokémon challenged me to a battle. It's been really good training for Bulbasaur."

"I guess it was for training. So Leaf, what did you want to ask?" Ash asked Leaf who started blushing a deep red, "...And your blushing,"

"No, I'm not! I was just going to ask you if I could go on my Pokémon journey with you since you're a skilled trainer and I want you to teach me how to be better. So, can I?" Leaf said using puppy-dog eyes.

"Sure, just remember I don't fall for cuteness. Just ask Pikachu how many times he's tried to make me get ketchup, I think I've spent enough money on Ketchup to have bought," Ash comically counted his fingers, "I think it's six houses in Pallet Town. Maybe just the lab."

"Awwww, you use to do whatever I told you to do when I did the eyes, at least you let me join you," Leaf sighed, before smirking at a memory, "so, where are we going Ashy."

"Are you really going to do this?"

"Yup, Ashy, I'm going to call you this forever and ever and ever... if I remember at least."

"Well, let's just hit the road. I want to get into Viridian City by sunset,"

Leaf agreed with Ash and they both started walking towards Viridian City.

* * *

"So Leaf, what have you been doing for the past few years. I mean you left 5 years ago when we were both 7. There must've been a few interesting events I don't know of." Ash asked, wondering what his friend had been doing for the past seven years.

"Well, when I left when we were seven, my family left for Sinnoh and I attended a Pokémon school where we all got a Pokémon to practice with for this pre-trainer tournament. I got a Turtwig, which is the grass type starter of Sinnoh," Leaf started before being interrupted.

"Hey, I know the starters of each region. Some of the trainers that leave their Pokémon with Professor Oak go to other regions. I saw this black and red fox Pokémon once. I think it was called a Zorua. It could change its form, but unlike a Ditto it kept its stats, moves and type."

"Okay, just let me talk, Ashy. So during the training, Turtwig evolved into a Grotle. And after that, the tournament was a blur, except against this purple-haired guy. I forgot his name but he kept hitting on me and he treated his Pokémon like dirt. Seriously, he starved his Chimchar if it got hit and stepped on it literally treating it like dirt. And he wasn't exactly using a strategy to evade the attacks. He just said to take the hit, then starved it for obeying. When I beat him, he started muttering, something about destroying my team when we're trainers, before throwing Chimchar's Pokéball on the floor and leaving it there. But instead of moaning or crying, Cimchar looked excited as he left. Almost as if he had been waiting for that day for weeks. I don't think he remembers that kid. Probably for the better."

"Sounds like another Gary, but way worse... never thought I would say that. I don't think Gary would release a Pokémon for a loss - well, at least I don't think he would - and I know that he wouldn't step on them. Even he has a small sense of morality." Ash said, perplexed at what his conceited rival would do.

"Well, Leaf. You're not the only one that has some good stories to tell. While you were gone a trainer caught a herd of Tauros. And guess what, he only used one! He had around 30, and still, he used one Tauros. Then a few weeks after that, he got a herd of Bouffalant, which are commonly found in Unova. The two herds of bull-like Pokémon kept stampeding around the pen. One time they almost broke a wall into the lab, if another trainer's Garchomp didn't stop them. They kept stampeding until the trainer of the two herds finally released the 29 Tauros and all but one of the Bouffalant into the Safari Zone in Fuchsia City." Ash said recalling the herds of bull-like Pokémon, "Hey Leaf, shouldn't we start training? The earlier the head-start on training. The earlier we can get stronger and get to the Pokémon league faster. I think there's a clearing up ahead. We can train there," the raven-haired trainer grabbed onto Leaf's arm; pulling her towards the clearing.

"Alright Ash, let's train! But you're holding onto me way too tight."

Ash released Leaf's arm as they both entered the clearing and released their Pokémon.

"I choose you, Bagon!" Ash said, releasing both the Pokémon. Bagon burst out of his pokéball, with Pikachu and Riolu jumping off Ash's shoulder and joining his fellow Pokémon.

"Go, Bulbasaur and Spearow!" Leaf said, releasing her Pokémon.

"Alright Pikachu, you may have gotten the basics of **Iron Tail** but we still need the metallic sheen to prove you've mastered it. Use it on the boulders! Let's get a clean slice through them!" Ash said, pointing at the clusters of boulders around the edge of the clearing.

"Bagon, we need another Dragon-type move, it's better we learn now then later. We'll go with **Dragon Pulse** , it's one of your egg moves, so other trainers won't expect it. When you evolve, you get a larger Special Attack equal to your Attack so it's not a bad idea. Use **Dragon Breath** , but hold it in. Charge it up, before releasing it. Make it a beam-like attack. You have a long time to perfect it. So no need to be ashamed of failure. Alright, let's go," Bagon started holding his breath and a dark-purple glow started to appear in Bagon's mouth before a small beam shot out his mouth.

"Good start Bagon! Riolu, you have the egg move **Detect**. This'll let you evade a potentially fatal attack. But you'll need another Pokémon to train the instinct. You do have some other moves worth learning. Let me check,"

Ash scanned Riolu again and pressed the movepool button, and browsed through all of Riolu's learnable moves.

"Sorry Riolu, none of the other moves you learn are available unless you get the TM for the move, or are too dangerous in your current form. Most moves you can currently learn are either TM exclusive or would be better if you had another move to help the process along. Like how move **Brick Break** to learn **Cross Chop**. I'm sure you won't need a new move until around the sixth gym. Or until your ready for new moves, whichever comes first. Why don't you perfect **Sky Uppercut** or **Blaze Kick** , they are unexpected. Let's not give our opponents time to counter."

Riolu nodded, before running towards another cluster of boulders and shattering them to pieces. Ash started running towards Bagon and helping to coach him with Dragon Pulse. Leaf looked at Bulbasaur and Spearow. Realising she hadn't scanned the bird, she pulled out her Pokédex and scanned Spearow.

 **Spearow, the Tiny Bird Pokémon and the pre-evolved form of Fearow. Spearow has a very loud cry that can be heard over half a mile away. If it's high, keening cry is heard echoing all around, it is a sign that they are warning each other of danger. This Spearow is a Female who is lonely, level 6 and has the ability keen eye. It has the following attacks: Growl, Peck and Leer. It has the following egg-moves: Tri Attack.**

Leaf gasped, she caught a Pokémon with an egg move, **Tri-Attack**. She thought only a few Pokémon learnt it but she didn't know Spearow could learn it. She snapped out of her confused state and realised that Ash had said something about an egg move. She'd ask him after she set her Pokémon to work. She looked at a boulder cluster, then at Bulbasaur. The first gym they'd challenge, the Pewter City Gym, used Rock-types - though the gym-leaders Pokémon were all part Ground-type (if you challenge it first.) Grass moves were 4x more effective on a rock-ground duel type then on other types. But Onix, the Pokémon who would most likely give her the most trouble, did have a high base defence. She shrugged it off realising both her Pokémon and most she'd find to Pewter City were physical attackers or only had them early on.

"Alright, Bulbasaur use **Vine Whip** on the boulder. Repeat 'till it cracks. Try to increase the power! Let's go!" The brunette ordered the Grass-poison type. Leaf looked at Ash, who was still coaching Bagon. She noticed something was around Bagon's head and started sprinting to Ash, who was on the opposite side of the clearing.

"Hey Ash, I have a question for you," Leaf said, approaching the raven-haired trainer, who stopped coaching Bagon and turned around.

"Ask away, Leaf. What do you wanna know?" He replied.

"First off, Spearow has an egg move so can you help me teach it to him? And second, what's on Bagon's head?" The brunette inquired, hoping she could use the advice to train Spearow.

"First, if you want to teach a Pokémon an egg move, you must teach it a move similar to the egg move. Unless the Pokémon has a bit of instinct to it and knows what the attack is but hasn't mastered it. Ask them to use the move, it might be able to use the attack. And Bagon's wearing a Power Lens, which helps it's special attack stat grow whenever it gains experience - the experience it gains from battles and training obviously." Ash answered.

"Okay, thanks for the advice. Alright, Spearow use **Tri-Attack**!" Leaf commanded. Spearow opened its mouth, and three orbs - one red, one indigo and one yellow - formed in her month. The orbs then grew slightly before becoming a beam and being shot into a tree.

"Well done, Spearow!" Leaf said with a slight laugh, Onix and Geodude's special defence were abysmal compared to their defence so this would lessen the disadvantage Spearow had, if it were forced into the fight.

"You just need it to keep performing the move, I'm sure she'll get it eventually," Ash said, before jogging back to Bagon.

"Bagon, Pikachu! You two up to a sparring match?" Ash announced, catching both Pokémon's attention.

"Alright, I want you two to spar. I want you two to use the attacks you've been learning." Ash said as both Pokémon stood opposite each other at both edges of the clearing, "Three, two, one, go!"

Pikachu launched at Bagon with **Quick Attack** as soon as the match started, curling into a ball to swing an **Iron Tail** at Bagon, who dodged the move and countered with a **Dragon Pulse**. The attack blasted Pikachu backwards as Bagon leapt towards Pikachu, fangs covered in flames. The electric mouse stopped it's fall with an **Iron Tail** into the ground, steadying itself before somersaulting into a standing position.

"Good work Pi, you steadied yourself with a move. That could be useful in a battle. Good strategy, Pikachu!" Ash said, observing the battle. Pikachu's lightweight body structure (compared to Geodude and Onix's weight) would mean that if he were to be hit by an attack, he would be sent in the air and, more importantly, less mobile and unable to dodge any follow-up attacks.

Whilst Bagon's fangs were on fire, an orange **Dragon Pulse** was sent at Pikachu. The mouse dodged too late and the attack hit Pikachu sending it flying a few feet. As Pikachu got to his feet, he glowed a slight orange and a tiny flame went across his torso indicating the electric mouse was burnt.

"Wow Bagon, that was a great combo-attack," Ash said, grabbing a Burn Heal and spraying it on Pikachu, "Alright, we'll stop sparring for now. You both deserve a break, after all, you both did create new strategies. I'll go make lunch for you guys."

Both Pokémon sat on a boulder and watched Leaf train her Pokémon. They saw Spearow dive on top of Bulbasaur, before repeatedly using **Peck**. They realised she was doing endurance training and decided to help motivate Bulbasaur.

"(Hey Bulbasaur, you can do it!)" Bagon shouted trying to motivate Spearow.

"(Just believe in yourself!)" Pikachu added.

"Alright guys, training's over. Lunch's ready!" Ash called his Pokémon and Leaf to a table (which fits in a backpack via hammerspace.)

As the Pokmon ran over, they all got a bowel of Pokéfood (with ketchup for Pikachu) and started eating the food, with satisfied squeaks. Leaf looked at the bowl of stew, then at Ash, then back at the bowel of stew.

"Ash, are you sure this is safe for human consumption?" Leaf asked, remembering the last time Ash cooked, "It looks good, smells good too, but that's what happened last time."

"That was Pikachu's fault, I told him not to spill ketchup in a soup," Ash answered, getting an angry squeal from Pikachu, "And no one has passed out from my cooking. I've had quite a few compliments on my cooking actually."

"Alright, time to face my fears. Alright, three, two, one, down it goes," she took a spoon of the stew and gulped it down. "Holy shit, I didn't faint. And that was surprisingly good. Well, Ash, you can finally cook! Something I'd never thought you'd ever be able to do after that poison you made!"

Just as Leaf was about to eat more of the stew, they heard a shriek. Leaf moaned a little as she was interrupted from eating her lunch, it better be important.

* * *

 **End Of Chapter**

 **Don't worry, this time the second chapter is actually done and should be posted with this updated chapter!**


	2. The Late Night Search

**DISCLAIMER: THIS IS FANfiction so, if you couldn't guess, I'm a fan of Pokémon and don't own Pokémon. Pokémon is owned by Nintendo and GameFreak**

Also just wanna say, "Damn it's been a year (and a few months which shall be ignored)!" Hope I can still satisfy you all. Read this chapter that took a year to write, decide for yourself!

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic speech_ ' = Telepathy

 **Bold stuff** = Pokédex entries and attacks

* * *

"That's probably nothing," Leaf said, looking slightly unsure, "I mean, I hope it is."

"C'mon Leaf, did you hear how loud it was? It was way too loud to be nothing!" Ash looked worried, "We should check it out. Riolu, stand guard until we get back."

After Riolu gave a growl showing that he would stay, Ash,Leaf and their Pokémon ran towards where they thought the scream came from heard.

Ash and Leaf kept running towards the scream, their fears about what was happening increasing over their sprint. Someone might have been attacked by poachers or there could be rogue Pokémon on the loose or another Magikarp recently evolved (which Ash noted seemed to be happening a lot recently.)"

They finally came to a clearing, where an orange-haired girl, who was wearing a blue T-shirt and short jeans, and an auburn-haired boy, who was wearing a dark green overcoat (light green sleeves that have a yellow strip at the end) and light green trousers with thick yellow strips at the sides, seemed to be arguing.

The auburn-haired boy had a Charmander next to him whilst the orange-haired girl had a Staryu that had fainted. Ash sweat-dropped when he heard them arguing.

"I guess there really was nothing wrong," he said, realising that the girl must've screamed due to losing the battle.

"How did I cheat? Just because I taught my Charmander to dodge doesn't mean that I cheated. I just told him to dodge any attacks that come to him because - I'm not sure if you get this," the Charmander's trainer emphasised the last few words, "if an attack hits a Pokémon, it damages them and makes it harder for them to continue fighting. Why should I just tell my Pokémon to get attacked, that's just a bad idea! And anyway, you should train your Pokémon to aim better and fire attacks faster. Even if Charmander didn't dodge, most of your attacks would've missed and they took way too long to fire that Charmander would've dodged anyway."

"Of course you cheated if NONE of the attacks hit, it's clear that the battle was rigged. And give me a break, I caught this Pokémon a few days ago." the Starmie's trainer said, slightly flustered.

Ash was slightly angered by the last sentence, this trainer was trying to pin the loss on her Pokémon and not on herself, "You do realise that a Pokémon trainer is meant to help a Pokémon reach its full potential. If you were unable to help the Pokémon aim its attack properly then the only person you can blame is yourself."

"Oh, who are you? Who do you think you are to interrupt?" the girl said turning around, "I'm the Gym Leader of the Cerulean Gym. You've probably just started your journey, newbie. "

"So, what if I officially started my journey. At least I've been able to train my Pokémon well enough to know that if I ever lose it's my fault and not my Pokémon's skill," the raven-haired boy said.

"And, how could your opponent have rigged the battle? Did he smear dirt on your Pokémon's face while you weren't looking or did he suddenly put a sheet over your Pokémon that we humans can't see and you never noticed when he put it on your Pokémon?" Leaf said, a confused look on her face, how could a Pokémon battle be rigged? It's just two animals trying to harm each other, the stronger or more strategic one wins.

"Yeah, the last one!" the orange-haired girl shouted, clearly expecting them to not respond once she had told them she was a gym leader, "I-I mean I don't listen to rookies. Maybe I'll listen to you three once you've beaten me in a Gym Battle. My name's Misty Waterflower and you'll never be able to beat me in our Gym Battle!" Misty laughed to herself, held Staryu's Pokéball up in her hand (which Misty used to recall Staryu when Ash had interrupted), and walked towards the edge of the clearing and disappeared into the forest.

The boy that had a Charmander started walking towards Ash and Leaf, his Charmander walking in front of him. He shook his head slightly, "Do you think she's really a Gym Leader? Aren't they supposed to be role-models for Pokémon trainers to learn from? Doesn't matter, I guess. My name's Ritchie from Frodomar City and this is my partner Zippo."

The Charmander jumped up, indicating that he was Zippo, "(I didn't even get hit. I'm so lucky to have a great trainer!)"

"Well, my name's Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town and this is my partner Pikachu!" Ash said with Pikachu waving his arm, "I also have a Bagon, who's in his Pokéball, and a Riolu who's still at my campsite"

"My name is Leaf Green and I'm from Pallet Town as well. And this is my partner," Leaf sent out Bulbasaur from his Pokéball.

"(Hey, didn't I see this guy a few days ago?)" Bulbasaur walked over to Zippo, and both Kanto starters started to talk about the things their trainers couldn't understand.

"So Ash, seeing as how Zippo didn't take any damage during that battle with Misty, do you wanna have a battle with me?"

"Yeah, alright let's go. It'll have to be quick though. Riolu's probably on edge waiting for me. Bagon," he threw Bagon's Pokéball out, "I choose you!"

"Don't worry, we'll win in no time! Zippo, let's do this!" Ritchie walked away from Ash until there was a decent distance between them.

"I'll spectate then," Leaf said, wanting to see if she could use any strategies that are used.

"Alright, Zippo use **Growl**!" Ritchie shouted, starting off the battle.

Zippo started growling in a cute manner which caused Bagon to be covered in a faint blue glow, which was flowing downwards, indicating that Bagon's attack was lowered.

"Alright then, Bagon use **Dragon Pulse**!" Ash shouted back.

A ball of draconic energy formed in front of Bagon's mouth before a purple beam hit the Charmander.

"Alright, if I guess correctly and you're a Dragon-type, Fire-type attacks won't be effective. Zippo, dodge! Then use **Growl** and **Scratch**!"

Zippo, who somersaulted to the side, growled again causing Bagon's attack to lower. After this, he charged at Bagon with his sharpened claws glowing white.

"Bagon, quickly use **Rage**!"

Bagon glowed red and its eyes narrowed. Bagon's red claws smashed into the Kanto starter's right shoulder whilst the Fire-type slammed his sharpened white claws into the side of Bagon's head. Bagon's eyes seemed to flare as the red glow covering Bagon deepened and started flowing upwards for a bit.

"Bagon, use **Rage** on Zippo's arm!"

Bagon's red claws slammed into Charmander's right arm, causing Zippo to wince at the pain. Zippo scratched Bagon before leaping back, trying to create a small distance between him and Bagon.

"Zippo use **Ember** to trap Bagon. Then lower Bagon's attack with **Growl**."

Zippo swung his tail in a sweeping motion, flames coming off of his tail and igniting the ground surrounding Bagon, trapping the Dragon-type in a circle of flames. The Kanto-starter started growling again, causing the attack buffs to lessen.

"If we can't raise our own attack, we'll lower their defence. Bagon use **Leer**!"

Bagon's eyes focused on Zippo's, menacingly. Like how a blue glow had appeared on Bagon, a similar blue glow appeared on Zippo although this time indicating that Zippo's defence was lowered.

"Bagon use **Dragon Pulse** to propel yourself over the flames. Then use a back to back **Bite** and **Rage**!"

Bagon did a front flip until his body was parallel to the ground. He then released a dark purple beam that shot him up into the sky. The Rock Head Pokémon opened his mouth as he was diving towards Charmander.

"Zippo, watch out!" Ritchie said trying to tell Charmander to dodge but it was already too late.

Charmander was hit by the first bite and was also hit repeatedly with the following **Rage** and **Bite**. Charmander tried to fight back with **Scratch** attacks but was overpowered quickly. Bagon stopped attacking and walked back with Charmander falling flat on his face, eyes replaced with swirls.

"Well, I guess the better trainer won," Ritchie said, spraying a potion on the Fire-type starter before pulling Zippo's Pokéball out and returning the Charmander to the Pokéball. He handed the prize money to Ash.

"That was a good battle," Ash said, also using a potion on Bagon as well, "So Ritchie, let's have a battle once we meet again."

"Sure! I'll beat you next time!" Ritchie said with a grin before heading towards the edge of the clearing and running into the darkness.

Leaf jumped off the log she was sitting on, "Well we should probably go back to our campsite. We should probably try to get to Viridian City by sunset."

Ash recalled Bagon and headed towards the campsite with Leaf behind him.

* * *

Ash and Leaf entered Viridian City an hour before sunset; once they cleared the clearing of any of their possessions, they made a beeline to Viridian City battling the group of Rattata and the trio of Pidgey they came across.

With a grin on their faces, Ash and Leaf headed towards a Pokémon Center having some idle conversations whilst they looked for the Pokémon Centre.

"So Leaf, have you received any welcome gifts since you came to Pallet Town? Well, other than the PokéNav," Ash said, looking for the Pokémon Centre.

"I got some flowers and cookies from some of my neighbours," Leaf said, also looking for the red building, "Why do you ask Ash? I mean, it's not like my best friend forgot to buy me something."

Ash blushed slightly, "Well... um, I-I didn't-"

Leaf slapped him on the back playfully, "Jeez Ash, I know you didn't know I returned. Although, if you bought me something, I wouldn't say no."

Ash laughed slightly as they kept looking for the Pokémon Centre, "I think I've found it."

Leaf turned to where Ash was looking, a building with a red roof with a battlefield next to it, "It looks like you did."

They both entered the building and gave their Pokémon to Nurse Joy who, followed by a Chansey, went behind a door for a few minutes before exiting and giving Pikachu and the Pokéballs back to the trainers.

"Would you like anything else?" Nurse Joy asked with a smile.

"Can we rent a room please?" Ash asked, pulling Poké Dollars out of his wallet.

"It's 1100 Poké Dollars," she said exchanging the key to a room with money, "Have a nice evening!"

* * *

Ash and Leaf stood on Route 22 with Leaf battling the Pokémon on the route to train her Spearow and Pikachu cheering them on. When she caught it, the Pokémon was around the same level as Bulbasaur. However, when they were coming to Viridian City, a level gap between Spearow and Bulbasaur increased so she wanted to focus on training the bird.

"Spearow use **Peck** ," Leaf commanded as Spearow swooped towards the Mankey that she was facing off against. Once the Flying-type Pokémon had pecked the Mankey, she darted away with the monkey-like Pokémon trying to use **Scratch** to send her falling to the ground. It then used **Low Kick** once the bird hit the ground but missed.

"Spearow use **Tri-attack**!" Leaf said, trying to get Spearow to master it so she could hold her own if Bulbasaur fainted in the Pewter City Gym Battle. Spearow formed three orbs in front of his mouth before turning them into beams which struck the Mankey knocking it out.

Leaf congratulated her Spearow, with the Mankey they defeated getting up and leaping away. The congratulation was cut short however by a rustling bush. Leaf looked at the bush with her Pokédex in her hand. Whatever was in the bush seemed to have noticed the attention it was getting because the bush stopped rustling.

"Spearow, use **Tri-attack** on that bush!" Leaf ordered, hoping that whatever was in the bush would be a good addition to her team. Her Flying-type Pokémon shot beams of electricity, ice and fire into the bush. Leaf scanned the purple Pokémon that jumped out of the bush.

 **Nidoran , The Poison Pin Pokémon and the evolved form of Nidoking. Nidoran has developed muscles for moving its ears. Thanks to them, the ears can be freely moved in any direction. Even the slightest noise does not escape this Pokémon's notice. This Pokémon is always male like how its counterpart is always female.**

 **The base stats for this Pokémon's current form are:**

 **HP: 46**

 **Attack: 57**

 **Defence: 40**

 **Special Attack: 40**

 **Special Defence: 40**

 **Speed: 50**

 **The base stats for this Pokémon's final form are:**

 **HP: 81**

 **Attack: 102**

 **Defence: 77**

 **Special Attack: 85**

 **Special Defence: 75**

 **Speed: 85**

Leaf looked at the Pokédex entry, a confused look on her face "If this Pokémon is always male, isn't it impossible for there to be a baby Nidoran ? Does that mean that Nidoking and a Nidoqueen always make a Nidoran ? Shouldn't this species be extinct?"

"Actually, a Nidoking and a Nidoqueen can't breed," Ash pointed out, answering one of the questions, "And, I think you might be right Leaf. If the father only contributes to the moves and the mother contributes to the species, then a baby Nidoran is impossible. Let me research this on my Pokénav."

"But if a Nidoking and Nidoqueen can't breed, why are their pre-evolved forms named Nidoran and Nidoran ? Shouldn't they be different species entirely?" Leaf pulled out her own Pokénav.

Ash looked at his Pokénav, before saying, "Actually, it appears that Nidoqueen can't breed at all and Nidoking can cause their offspring to be a Nidoran , Nidoran or the mother's species. It seems that the people that named them knew next to nothing about the Pokémon they're naming. Also, did you know that you can have a female Mr Mime?"

"Wait, where's it gone?" Leaf said, looking around for the Pokémon, "It must have left."

"Is it... sleeping on the sign?" Ash said, pointing at the small purple creature with a snot bubble leaning onto the sign.

"Alright Spearow, use **Tri-attack** and follow it up with **Peck** ," Leaf ordered once she had found where Ash was looking. The Normal-flying type released a beam of electricity, a beam of fire and a beam of ice. All of which, hit the Poison-type Pokémon causing a decent amount of damage and popping the snot bubble.

"(You really want to catch me that bad. Well, I won't be captured!)" the Nidoran said, suddenly being outlined in a red aura. The Nidoran , once finishing his **Focus Energy** attack, charged at Spearow with his feet glowing white, ready to use **Double Kick**.

"Spearow, dodge! Then use **Leer** and **Peck**!" Leaf said, causing Spearow to dodge the first of the **Double Kick** but not the second. Spearow darted away from the Nidoran before narrowing her eyes, causing the Nidoran 's defence to lower. Spearow then jabbed her beak into the side of Nidoran 's head, causing the purple Pokémon's health to lower but also causing Spearow to be poisoned.

"So, it has Poison Point as its ability. Spearow use **Tri-attack** repeatedly! Maybe we can afflict Nidoran with a burn or paralysis," Leaf ordered, realising that she should start to throw Pokéballs soon. Spearow formed orbs of electricity, fire and ice and released them in the form of beams. Once the attack hit, Spearow was forming more orbs whilst Leaf noticed electricity flowing through parts of their opponent's body. She would have prefered having the Nidoran be burned (the fact that being afflicted with burn caused the Pokémon's physical attack damage to be halved outweighed the fact that paralysis caused the afflicted Pokémon's speed to be halved) but she would take what she could.

"(Damn it! Did you have to burn me?)" the Poison-type said, trying to use a **Peck** attack on the bird only to be stopped by the pain of being afflicted by burn

"Your health should have been lowered enough, go Pokéball!" Leaf said throwing the red and white capsule at the Nidoran . The small Pokémon was put into the Pokéball. One shake, two shakes, three shakes and... the Pokéball burst. Leaf sighed, "I was hoping you'd stay in that Pokéball. Go, Pokéball!"

"(C'mon, I could barely get out of the last one,)" the Pokémon said, not even trying to resist as he was transported yet again into the Pokéball. This time the Pokéball didn't burst but made a ping with three stars seeming to appear around the button.

"Alright! I caught a Nidoran !" Leaf said with a grin, "C'mon Ash. I need to heal Spearow and Nidoran."

"We should hurry before Spearow faints," Ash said, walking towards the town with Leaf following behind after she'd returned Spearow to her Pokéball.

* * *

"Good," Leaf said, standing still just in front of the Pokémon Centre, "Spearow barely has any Health Points left. It probably would've fainted if we waited. That would've been annoying."

"So, let's go inside the Pokémon Centre and heal her," Ash said, pulling Leaf into the Pokémon Centre before Spearow fainted from the poison.

A magenta-haired woman, a lavender-haired man and a Meowth stood in the middle of the Pokémon Centre with everyone else against the wall.

The woman seemed to notice Ash and Leaf entering because she quickly ordered the lavender-haired man (who the woman called James) to battle them.

James seemed to see something wrong with the plan, "But Jessie, we haven't even said our motto!"

Realising this, Jessie seemed to receive a large boost of energy, "Thanks for reminding me, James. Alright twerps, listen to the greatest motto you'll ever hear in your pathetic little lives, ahem: Prepare for trouble!"

"Do you think we should just go to the PokéMart?" Leaf asked, wanting to heal her Pokémon as soon as possible.

"Maybe we should just battle them. They don't seem very threatening," Ash said causing Pikachu to release small sparks from his cheeks.

"Now! Hand over your Pokémon!" Jessie ordered, with James next to her and the Meowth ready to attack.

"Use **Thunder Shock** ," Ash whispered. Pikachu understood the command, preparing to leap to the side and shock the Team Rocket Trio.

Pikachu lept to the side and shocked Meowth from the side causing a considerable amount of health to fall. Pikachu then used **Quick Attack** to hit the side of the cat-like Pokémon before going between Jessie and James and using **Thunder Shock** to stun them for a second. Ash sent out Riolu who, seeing Pikachu attack the two humans, charged up a **Force Palm** in his left hand and a **Sky Uppercut** in the right. The short, blue and black Pokémon struck the Meowth with both attacks causing the normal-type to faint.

"Meowth! How could you let them beat you?" Jessie said, tossing another releasing an Ekans, which was a purple snake with a yellow stripe on its neck and an underbelly which is the same colour, "Use **Dig** , on that Pikachu!"

The purple and yellow snake dived into the ground before making a beeline to underneath Pikachu. The yellow Pokémon tried to dodge the attack by hopping back but the Poison-type snake was able to hit Pikachu's leg causing the Electric-type's HP to drop a significant amount.

"Riolu, use **Blaze Kick**!" Ash said, realising that Pikachu was low on health, "Pikachu, keep your distance and use rapid-fire **Electro Ball**!"

"Bulbasaur, grab that Ekans with **Vine Whip** and hold it in place!" Leaf said, sending her Bulbasaur out into the fight.

The vines that sprouted from the Grass-type's bulb wrapped around the Ekans and slammed the snake-like Pokémon into the ground. Riolu slammed his blazing foot into the side of the Ekans whilst the **Electro Balls** that came from Pikachu either hit the Poison-type or narrowly missed the Ekans and hit whatever was around it.

"Pikachu, slow the **Electro Balls** and keep your aim tight," Ash called out to Pikachu, who nodded and started slowing down the rate of **Electro Balls** , "Riolu, use **Sky Uppercut** and **Force Palm**."

James, who wasn't very active during the fight, sent out a Pokémon of his own, "Koffing, use **Smog** and **Smokescreen**!"

"Bulbasaur, use **Vine Whip** to blow the smoke away!" Leaf said, once hearing Ekans faint from a **Force Palm** used by Riolu.

"Jessie, we need to escape! We'll get the twerps later!" James said, recalling his Koffing.

"We'll get you, you twerps are first on the hit list for Team Rocket!" Jessie recalled her Ekans and ran towards the exit as a loud crack whipped through the air, "Ow! You twerps really are going to get it!"

Leaf and Ash returned their Pokémon to their Pokéball, with Leaf checking Spearow's health, "And... she's fainted, Nurse Joy can you heal my Pokémon? One of them has fainted."

A woman in a nurse outfit with pink hair and a Chansey rose from behind the desk, "Er...Yes, please hand us your Pokéballs and we can restore your Pokémon to their healthiest state."

After Ash and Leaf handed over their Pokémon to Nurse Joy, they sat on one of the seats and looked at the Pokémon Centre. The walls and floor had whip marks all over them due to Bulbasaur's **Vine Whip**. There were medium to large dents in the wall due to the missed **Electro Balls** from Pikachu and a duo of about half a metre wide holes which were made by the **Dig** from Ekans. The damage would probably be expensive and Ash didn't have much money on him but at least they had stopped those Pokémon thieves... who still escaped from the Pokémon Centre.

"Ok, maybe we should just abandon the room we bought and run," Ash whispered to Leaf, who had also realised how much damage they'd caused.

"When we collect our Pokémon from Nurse Joy, we'll judge whether to stay or run," Leaf whispered back before her Pokénav started vibrating, "Ash, I'm just going to take this call outside. If Nurse Joy comes out, judge for me."

Ash sweat dropped as he realised that he needed to call his mother. She probably expected him to be here, at the Pokémon Centre, by now. He pressed some buttons on the Pokénav and entered his mum's number into the Pokénav. He looked at the door Nurse Joy went through and assumed he had a few minutes to call his mum.

The Pokénav's screen lit up to show Ash's mother in a white shower robe and a purple towel tied around her hair, "Ash?"

"Hey mum," the raven-haired boy said, sweatdropping as he realised he hadn't gone back to his house after going to the lab, "If you're wondering, I'm at the Viridian City Pokémon Centre and am calling you with a Pokénav."

Delia sighed, before a short laugh, "So, Professor Oak gave you the Pokénav. I thought he would've given it to Leaf as a welcome present. Speaking of which, you did talk with Leaf, right?"

Ash grinned at the mention of his best friend, "Yeah, she's outside talking to her mum!"

"Talking to her mum outside? Samuel never told me that he had two Pokénavs, I assume that she's calling her mum with a Pokénav. Well then, might I assume that you're both travelling together?" Delia asked, knowing the answer.

"Yep, we decided to travel together! She's caught a Spearow and a Nidoran within the time we've left the lab!"

"Alright, I need to go on an errand! So Ash, remember I'm rooting for you!" Delia said with a smile, "And you better make sure you call me whenever you can!"

"Bye, mum!" Ash said as the screen turned off.

"Hello, can Ash Ketchum and Leaf Green collect their Pokémon, please?" Nurse Joy called.

Ash walked towards the desk and looked at Nurse Joy. Ok, she had an honest smile and didn't have a sharp glare, maybe he was okay? He took his Pokéballs and Pikachu before he called Leaf, who came and collected her Pokéballs. Ash sighed in relief as he saw no indications that Nurse Joy was annoyed.

"Since you did quite well in that battle with those Pokémon thieves, can I ask for you to do something. I'm sure you're both quite capable of the job." Nurse Joy asked, "There is a rogue Primeape on Route 2 that has been attacking trainers that cross its path. I was hoping you could catch it for me, after all, in the open outdoors there is no cost for damage!"

Ash and Leaf caught the slight annoyance in her voice at the end. Ash, deciding that they were partly guilty for the damage, asked, "Can you give us some Pokéballs?"

"Err, yes will do!" Nurse Joy said, seeming to expect them to have run, "I'll be back in a moment!"

"Ash! Why did you sign us up for the extra work? We could've just said that we would do it in the morning... and then not do it at all," Leaf said realising that she was talking quite loudly.

"We did dent the walls and, you know, leave whip marks on the floor," Ash said, not angry, just slightly irked at the fact that he would have to find a Pokémon after dark well, technically there was twilight but that would be gone soon.

"Alright, fine. I guess we kinda caused them some money... but... Well, I might as well help you," Leaf said, blushing at the fact that she had said, aloud, that she had caused some damage and didn't, at least didn't seem to, feel guilty.

"Here are the extra Pokéballs," she said handing over the Pokéballs, "I wish you good luck!"

* * *

Leaf simply sighed whilst Ash collected the spare Pokéballs and walked to the exit of the city and onto Route 2 before splitting to look for the Primape. Ash pulled his Pokédex out and scanned the area. If the beam wasn't obstructed by a wall, the Pokémon should be shown on screen. While Ash scanned the area, Leaf had sent out Spearow who was looking around from the air while she looked around on the ground.

Ash, not finding anything with the beam, looked around for anything the Primeape could be hiding behind. Ash then walked through a tight gap in between the trees before laughing, "Leaf, I think I might know where it is! And, I don't think this is going to be as easy as I thought it would be!"

Leaf quickly walked over to where she heard Ash's voice with Spearow following behind. She squeezed through the gap in the trees and sighed, she knew this was going to take longer than normal! She looked around in case the Primeape might have been there. Just trees and a Rattata on the floor who was either sleeping or dead (not common, but not rare with how large the population was.) Well, no Primeape to be seen. However, there were two paths (one to the left and one to the right) that Leaf knew they were going to have to go through in order to find this rogue Fighting-type.

"These paths aren't on the map," Ash said, a confused yet excited look on his face, "These aren't on any map I've ever seen, and trust me, I've looked at almost every map of Kanto."

"You know the path could've been made after the map was made," Leaf said, pulling out her Pokénav, "And... I think you might be right, the last time the Pokénav GPS satellite flew over here was a week ago. Do you want to keep going? I'm sure that this Primeape is here."

"We can't pay for the damage, so do we really have much of a choice?" Ash said with a wry smile before sending out his Pokémon, "Alright, guys! So we're looking for a Primeape, and we're pretty sure they're somewhere on one of these three paths. Riolu, I want you to use **Agility** down the Path and scout for us. Check if there is anything that's resentful with your emotion-reading powers, I'm sure that the Primeape isn't in a great mood. Bagon and Pikachu, I want you guys to be alert so we can catch this Pokémon. Alright Leaf, do you wanna split up or stay together?"

"Split up, I just want to finish this as quickly as possible so I can go to the Pokémon Centre and enjoy some online videos in bed," Leaf said, yawning before sending out Bulbasaur and Nidoran, "Spearow, can you look ahead for us? Nidoran, I want you to listen out to anything hidden in the trees! Bulbasaur, I want you to have your vines out, in case we find anything."

After exchanging numbers with each other, Ash and Leaf split up with the hopes that they would find the Pokémon sooner rather than later.

"It's only 8:45 pm," Ash said sighing, he and Leaf had split up about five minutes ago and nothing had happened - although it was unlikely that they would've found the Pokémon this soon.

"Have you found anything?" Ash asked his Pokémon, getting no interesting answers Ash muttered to himself, "I wonder how long this is going for me to find this Primeape!"

Ash heard a crack to his left and looked into the trees, "Riolu, can you read any emotions? Pikachu, charge a **Thunder Shock**. Bagon, I want you to charge up **Flaming Dragon Pulse**."

"(I don't sense anything inherently negative towards us. I'm pretty sure we're fine, we can continue,)" Riolu said via the bond, "(I'll scout another hundred metres, Ash!)"

Riolu came and went with little information that was interesting, the interesting thing that Riolu found was a tree that seemed to have been punched out of the ground. Ash sighed in relief, the Fighting-type they were looking for was close.

Pikachu leaned onto Ash's shoulder, a wave of serenity and fatigue, "(You know, I feel like this Primeape is following us and we don't know it. Well. I'm going to go to sleep, wake me up if something happens!)"

Riolu laughed before telling Ash what Pikachu said. Ash looked around in mock paranoia before laughing to himself. However, after a few seconds of laughing, he took the comment seriously. What if they really were standing behind them, ready to attack them once Riolu and Bagon weren't paying attention. But... what if they weren't following him. What if they were following Leaf? She was a good trainer, Ash wouldn't dismiss that, but...

Riolu, seeming to not notice anything behind them, decided to talk with Ash,"(You know, from the few hours I've known her, I think she would be fine with the Primeape. And, you used to tell me she was the single most lucky person, you've ever met. I'm sure she's fine.)

Ash sighed to himself for worrying and pulled out his Pokénav to browse the internet. Once the free wi-fi signals that were set up around Kanto had reached his Pokénav, he searched for any facts about the elusive path whilst Riolu and Bagon kept watch for any threats.

* * *

"Well done, Nidoran!" Leaf said, after defeating another Rattata that had crossed their path. Nidoran grunted, still harbouring some anger at Leaf, but accepting the fact that he would have to live with it.

"(Nothing is there, Leaf,)" Spearow said, having returned and knowing that Leaf would get the idea.

"Well, what did I expect? I'm starting to doubt the fact that this Primeape is here," Leaf said, groaning since she knew this would take an eternity to do, "Well then, let's start moving!"

Leaf continued on the walk, her Pokédex in her hand, "You know, a Primeape isn't a bad Pokémon. Should I consider keeping it?"

 **Primeape, The Pig Monkey Pokémon and the evolved form of Mankey. The blood vessels in its brain are sturdier than those of other Pokémon, so it can stay healthy despite its constant raging.**

 **The stats of this Pokémon are:**

 **HP: 65**

 **Attack: 105**

 **Defence: 60**

 **Special Attack: 60**

 **Special Defense: 70**

 **Speed: 95**

Leaf looked over the movepool, decent coverage with the elemental punches and it's Same Type Attack Bonus with Fighting-type attacks made sure that there were no Pokémon she'd need to use a non-effective attack on any opponents. Then there were the other attacks Primeape could learn: the multitude of Dark-type attacks, the Ground-type attacks that it could learn via levelling up and TM plus the other attacks it learns such as **U-turn** and **Aerial** made it a viable sweeper.

The trainer carried on down the path, still wondering whether or not to catch the Pokémon that they were after. But then again, if she wanted to add a Primeape to her team, she could just catch a Mankey. She thought about it a bit harder and decided that, if she were to find the Pokémon, she would catch it and it to her team.

"(Leaf, I think we've found something!) Bulbasaur said with a grin on his face, extending a vine out to point at something, "(Look over there!)"

"You've found something, haven't you!" Leaf said, looking at where the vine was pointing. The Pokédex had said that Primeape was always in a rage, that would explain the multiple fist marks on the ground. This Pokémon must be completely insane to have tried to fight the ground, it must've thought that it could've beaten the ground since the dents it left on the ground looked as if the Pokémon was putting all its power into the punches.

Nidoran looked at the dents left in the ground, "(You know, I don't think we should go further, this Pokémon seems a bit... unstable.)"

Spearow agreed with Nidoran saying "(I doubt this is a good idea. We don't really need to do this, do we?)"

"I'm pretty sure we have to do this, guys. We wouldn't have been looking for the Pokémon if we didn't need to," Leaf said, walking on the trail with some doubts, "Maybe adding this Pokémon to my team is a bad idea."

Pikachu jumped off of Ash's shoulder in fright after sleeping for about forty minutes, "(Holy... what the...!)" Pikachu started sweating bullets and his cheeks were releasing sparks, "(Ash, I don't think that this Primeape is the worst thing after us!)"

Ash, after being avoiding his feet from being burnt by the sparks, "Pikachu, it was just a dream. It's fine, calm down! If your cheeks keep releasing that much energy you'll start a forest fire."

Riolu, holding an orb of water over a few sticks, with smoke rising above the ball, "You're too late. I've already dealt with it!"

"Wait, are you using **Rain Dance**?" Ash said, an excited look on his face, "You were able to use it without having to make the rain pour. We could adapt that to a **Water Pulse** and you would have some more type coverage!"

"( **Water Pulse** , huh? That would give me an edge on Fire-types and it would give me a projectile to use when I can't reach my opponent,)" Riolu said, knowing that if he wanted to last longer in fights, he would need more coverage, "(Are we going to learn that once we get back or are we going to hold it until Pewter City?)"

"We should hold it, I think we should just perfect the moves we already have for the Pewter City Gym battle. We'll probably need to train for the Cerulean City Gym, even if that gym leader seems to be on the weaker side," Ash said, remembering how that orange-haired girl said she was a gym leader, "Better to just perfect what we know will be effective."

Bagon, interested in how Pikachu woke up, asked, "(What was in your dream anyway, Pikachu?)"

"(It was dark, just completely pitch-black dark. And then, out of nowhere, there is just white smoke and everything I could've ever feared appears. Everyone I know dies, I never meet Ash and you guys and worst of all,)" Pikachu sniffled, tears almost pouring out, "(A world without ketchup is revealed before my eyes. People... people eat hot dogs with the creation of the devil himself: mustard. The world doesn't have its greatest creation, just sadness and excess tomatoes.)"

"Gee Pikachu, I never knew I was second to a condiment!" Ash said in mock-annoyance, "But anyway, I'm sure it's fine."

"(Can you buy me, um... a hundred litre of ketchup, once we get back to Viridian City?)" Pikachu asked, knowing that the supply of ketchup that Ash had was enough but, after seeing that desperate world, he needed to know that he would be able to survive.

"Don't push it, Pikachu!" Ash said, that look in Pikachu's eye could only mean one thing, Pikachu wanted an abundance of ketchup.

Pikachu sighed, before quickly turning around and looking into the trees behind them, "(Didn't I say that we would have something stalking us? I'm sure I heard a whisper!)"

Ash, knowing that were they to look they would find nothing like last time, simply told the group to continue looking for the Primeape. He checked the time, only 9:10 pm. He would call it quits at 11 o'clock. That was late enough to be considered a thorough look but not late enough that they might wake up later than 7 am which was Ash's preferred time to wake up. Although, Leaf had been a person to sleep in and she doesn't seem to have changed. Maybe he should just throw some of his plans out of the window, Leaf was back and he would enjoy her company.

Whilst Ash smiled to himself, the Pokémon were looking around for the Primeape, wondering whether or not adding the Pokémon to the team would be a good idea. They were going through all this trouble to catch him, so they might as well. The problem that they saw with this Primeape was its anger issues. They knew Ash could handle it, but there was a possibility that Primeape would be untrainable.

"(Wait... Shit, something is following us!)" Riolu said, detecting a presence, "(It might not be aggressive, but it's definitely angry!)"

"(You swear, now? Weren't you the person that would chide US when we swore that one time)" Pikachu said, even if he understood that they weren't expecting something to appear.

"Is anyone there!" they heard a voice say from the trees, "If there's a Primeape there, can you, you know, make yourself be known!"

Ash quickly thought of what to do, he didn't know where this Primeape was so the extra eyes would help. But the person was an unknown, they could have malicious intentions.

'We're fine, Ash!,' Riolu said once he had looked through the thoughts of the person that was in the trees, 'they're tired and annoyed, I think that Nurse sent more than us to look for this Pokémon.

"We're here, but the Primeape isn't!" Ash called out. If Riolu had thought that the person presented no threat, he was sure there was no chance of something bad occurring.

Out of the darkness, Ritchie came out, sighing as he saw Ash, "Well Ash, we met way before I thought we would. Did the Nurse Joy in Viridian tell you to look for that Primeape as well?"

Ash nodded, "Yep, Leaf and I are only doing this because we trashed the Pokémon Centre when these Team Rocket grunts tried to rob the Pokémon Centre."

"You defended the Pokémon Centre from Team Rocket? Aren't they meant to be a big organisation? How'd you defend a Pokémon Centre from them!" Ritchie said in disbelief, from their battle earlier, he knew Ash was a good trainer, but...

"It was mostly luck that Leaf and I were able to beat a member of Team Rocket. I doubt that if the Team Rocket members were of a higher rank, we would have been able to beat them. We did pretty well and Leaf was able to get some good experience."

"Speaking of Leaf, where is she?"

"She went the opposite direction, that way we would cover more area. She gave me her number in case anything went wrong, so she should be fine."

"So, shall we keep on looking?

* * *

"This Primeape really is a lunatic," Leaf said, looking at all the bent trees and dents in the ground, "And, I think we're as close as can be."

Bulbasaur looked around and after a few glances, he found that the Pokémon that they had been looking for was punching the ground, ignorant of their presence. He noticed that the Fighting-type had a few bruises on its face that seemed rather recent, did it ram into a tree out of rage?

"Alright, Bulbasaur, I want you to constrict that Primeape with **Vine Whip** and smash it into the ground. Wrap the arms first and then the rest of the body. Spearow, once Bulbasaur has taken that Primeape down, I need you to rapid fire **Tri-attack**. Hopefully, if luck is on our side, our opponent should be either paralysed, frozen or burned - all of which have their own benefits. Nidoran, I want you to lower Primeape's health so that these Pokéballs are more effective. Alright, Bulbasaur, ready your vines! Spearow, get a good vantage point! Nidoran, stick with me!"

As her Pokémon followed her orders, she crept closer to the Primeape so she could get a good view of the area around the cream coloured monkey. Mostly trees and foliage, Bulbasaur's vines should be able to camouflage. As she saw Bulbasaur extend his vines, she did a final check of the area before signalling to Bulbasaur to start.

"(Here we go!)" Bulbasaur said, seeing that Spearow was in a good position. The vines that he sent out started to creep around Primeape, a centimetre away from the monkey's arms, before he constricted the arms, making sure that the Primeape was unable to use his hands. He then started squeezing tighter, Then continuing to wrap around the rest of Primeape's body. The process of wrapping Primeape came to a halt when Primeape used Thrash. Its arms started swinging wildly, causing the vines to almost rip.

Spearow saw this and used **Tri-attack** on Primeape, noticing that the attack was much more powerful than they were when she had used it earlier. The attack had been a critical hit! Leaf was right in saying that luck would be on their side! At least, Spearow thought it was until she noticed that a red glow went over Primeape's body. How would the Primeape have a stat boost if it didn't use any moves?

"So, it has the ability Anger Point," Leaf said, a bit of sarcasm in her voice as she said, "A Pokémon that needs a defence against blowing a vein from anger has an ability called Anger Point! Makes sense!"

"(My vines are about to rip!)" Bulbasaur said, grunting as he felt the vines about to snap. Just as the vine was about to snap, Bulbasaur shot a seed out of his bulb which dropped onto Primeape. The seed then started to grow and vines constricted Primeape before glowing red and started sapping some of Primeape's health. Bulbasaur retracted his vines before backing up and healing them.

Nidoran ran over to Primeape, using **Peck** on the Fighting-type. When the first attack landed, Primeape used **Thrash** again and tried to break through the vines only to be constricted yet again by Bulbasaur's vines. Nidoran, seeing how their opponent was going to break out of his vines sooner or later, started to use Leer.

"(Hey, Bulbasaur, can you use **Growl** on this guy? His stat boosts are guaranteeing that he can rip these vines again!)" Nidoran said, using **Leer** to lower the Primeape's defence so that his attacks would do some more damage.

"(Yeah, will do!)" Bulbasaur said, tightening his **Vine Whip** before starting using **Grow** l to neutralise the stat boosts.

"I should've thought to neutralise the stat boosts," Leaf said, knowing that she had barely contributed to the fight, "Spearow, you use **Leer** as well. Also, keep using **Tri-Attack**. Paralysis or burn status would be really useful right now! Try swooping around whilst you do it, close-range shots would be best! Can you throw in a **Peck** or two while you're at it?"

Spearow nodded before narrowing her eyes and sending the three elemental beams at the Primeape. She leapt off of the branch she was on and circled around her target, closing in and throwing a **Peck** before backing up.

"Nidoran! I need you to use **Peck**!" Leaf said, noticing a hint of weariness on Primeape's face, "Bulbasaur, your **Leech Seed** is about to rip. Tighten your grip on him, slam him into the ground!"

As all the Pokémon carried out what Leaf told them to do, she realised that she hadn't told Ash about finding the Primeape. He was probably still looking for it, hoping that he would see some cream fur and a broken tree.

She'd call him once she was done, just in case the Primeape escaped, "Alright guys, he's about to faint! Spearow, charge up your **Tri-attack** for a bit longer! Nidoran, **Double Kick** it in the legs! Bulbasaur, keep him in place!"

Bulbasaur started tightening his grip until he knew that the Primeape would find it hard to breathe any further. Primeape struggled as he felt his arm being shoved into his ribs. Spearow had three large balls in front of her beak. She was about to shoot them out as a beam when she heard Leaf shout.

"Spearow, don't shoot! Can you mix those elements into a **Peck**? It should do much more than twice the damage we would've done before!" Leaf said, seeing Nidoran use a D **ouble Kick** on the back of Primeape's legs, a good shot would be easy and pack a lot of damage, "Nidoran, distance yourself from Primeape!"

As Nidoran jumped away from the Primeape, Spearow started ascending so that she could put some downwards momentum into the attack. Once she decided that she was high enough, she started nosediving with balls of fire, ice and electricity swirling around her beak. Mid-swoop and the balls had fused into her beak giving it a red, blue and yellow glow which spun at a dizzying rate. And... impact! The blow clearly had a lot of force behind it as the Primeape had been knocked back a metre or two into a bush. Spearow also felt the force, as she was blown back into a tree, swirls in her eyes.

"You did good, Spearow! You did really, really good!" Leaf praised, seeing that Primeape had also fainted, "But she can't take all the credit, can she? You two did great as well!"

"(Thanks, Leaf!)" Bulbasaur said, seeing their opponent had fainted.

"(You know, I think you might become a great trainer,)" Nidoran said. Spearow's attack had a lot of power in it. If Leaf could do something like that with him! He'd sweep through full teams with ease!

Leaf returned her Pokémon to their Pokéballs before turning to Primeape, a grin on her face, "Hah! You're a fully evolved Pokémon and I could take you down easily. The better person always wins and that makes me, Leaf Green the better person. Hell yeah!"

"(What...") The Primeape seemed to start moving, reminding Leaf to toss a pokéball at the Primeape

As the Pokéball pinged, Leaf smiled before pulling out her Pokénav and using the Match Call feature, "Hey Ash! You can quit now! I've caught it!"

"The Primeape? I knew you could do it, Leaf! And you said that I was a good trainer!" Ash said through the Pokénav, "Y'know, that Nurse Joy sent people other than use to look for that Primeape. I guess that makes you the best trainer out of us, Leaf. I'll change that soon though. I'll meet you at the Pokémon Centre. Now, tell me how you beat that Primeape!"

* * *

 **I hope you guys enjoyed and I just want to say that it was really fun to write this chapter. Expect the next chapter within a year!**


	3. Viridian Forest and Cosplaying Samurais

**Disclaimer: I do not own the Pokémon franchise as that belongs to Nintendo.**

"Talking," = Speech

"(Pokespeaking,)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking,' = thoughts

' _Telepathic Speech_ ,' = telepathy

* * *

Ash and Leaf exited the Pokémon Centre, a thick stack of 75,000 Pokédollars in each of their wallets. It appeared that the Nurse Joy that had sent them on that hunt was surprised that they had found that Primeape and not one of the other more experienced trainers. Not that it mattered to them, as long as they didn't have to pay for the damage that they had caused, they were fine.

"I feel like that hunt yesterday was worth it," Leaf said with a smile on her face, "Even if I don't get to keep that Primeape who cost me a few hours of my life, we got a lot of money. And, I was also able to create that **Tri-Attack** and **Peck** combination. So, are we going to get through the Viridian Forest today? Or are we going to do something else? I just want to get to Pewter City by the end of the week."

Ash smiled at his friend's positiveness, "I want to get through at least half of Viridian Forest. After all, I've heard that there have been a few sighting of Scythers and Heracrosses. I just hope that we see one. Whilst bug-types are generally frowned upon due to their generally poor stats late into a journey, there are a lot of shining diamonds among them."

"Actually, now that I think about it, we didn't really get to check out that route yesterday, the one where I had met Nidoran. Do you want to head there quickly?" Leaf said as they were about to pass the entrance into the route.

"Why not? Doing a quick check wouldn't do bad, would it?" Ash said, deciding that they could spend a few minutes on that route before heading to that forest.

As the two turned and entered the route, they heard a familiar voice shout, "Hah, you Mankey don't stand a chance against the awesome Gary Oak!"

Leaf just sighed whilst Ash cringed on the inside, some things never change and they were sure Gary's ego was in that group. As they took a few more steps, Ash looked around. Nothing interesting had immediately caught his eye but he did note that the route sign, the one Nidoran had been sleeping on yesterday had a ten-centimetre wide hole that Ash didn't remember being there.

"Leafy, my girl! How are you? And Ashy-boy, you don't seem that happy. Have you been on a losing streak? That crappy team of yours couldn't hold a candle to mine!" Gary said as they entered his line of vision, "I'm going to guess that you just made it to town yesterday, just shows that I'll always be a step ahead of you!"

"I'll make you eat those words," Ash said, Pikachu jumping off of Ash's shoulder with his cheeks sparking, "C'mon Gary, let's battle right here!"

"Well then, I guess I can add one more to my win streak!" Gary said, unclipping two Pokéballs from his trainer belt, "I choose you, Pidgey! I'll beat you even with the type disadvantage!"

"Alright then, I'll let you take the first move!" Ash said with a grin, "You'll need it!"

Leaf seemed to find the battle pointless on Gary's part, "You do realise that Ash has had his Pokémon for way longer than you and has both higher level Pokémon and a better understanding of his Pokémon. The winner is already clear! Ash, finish this quickly. I thought we would have found something interesting but I guess I was wrong... I hate saying that!"

"You should be on my side, Leaf! Pidgey, use **Peck**!" Gary said.

"Stop it in its tracks with **ThunderShock**!" Ash commanded before adding, "Use **Iron Tail** if you can!"

Pidgey cried as the electricity hit him, soon causing him to plummet down to the ground. Pikachu then used **Quick Attack** to propel himself high enough so that the **Iron Tail** would send the bird into the ground. Gary was about to say that Ash couldn't train his Pokémon to use the right move but he was proven wrong when the **Iron Tail** was able to smack Pidgey into the ground.

Pidgey got up with just under a quarter of its health left, his IVs were high in both his Special Defence and Physical Defence. The Flying-type then took two flaps and was airborne again, he was determined to do some damage to his opponent. The bird then did an aileron roll in the air and kept spinning, the spinning movement should help him do some extra damage.

"Pikachu, behind you! **Quick Attack** to get out of the way, throw an **Electro Ball** whilst you are there!" Ash said, somewhat in disbelief at the Pidgey's resilience and determination, before thinking, 'Gary is lucky to have a Pidgey that is determined and sturdy enough to survive his mistakes, he shouldn't have sent Pidgey out against Pikachu.'

Pikachu was just about to jump to the side when he was hit by the Peck attack. He winced at the damage before throwing his **Electro Ball** at where he suspected Pidgey to be before using **Quick Attack** to get to the side. The **Electro Ball** missed by a fair margin but Pikachu sent a few more follow up attacks to try and shoot the bird out of the sky.

"Pidgey, use **Sand Attack** before using that swirling Peck attack that you used," Gary ordered, ignoring that his Pokémon had less than a quarter of its health left, "You don't stand a chance, Ash!"

Pidgey didn't seem to agree as it said, "(I think they stand a better chance than us at worst and an equal chance at best.")

Pikachu seemed to notice this and said, "(It's fine I've known Ash, my trainer, for a long time. You did well being able to stand up to my **ThunderShock** and **Iron Tail**.)

"Alright Pikachu, finish this off with an **Electro Ball** followed by **ThunderShock**!" Ash said seeing that the Pidgey was close to fainting. He hoped that Gary would train this Pokémon well, Ash could tell that it had the potential to be a powerful party member when it was fully evolved as Pidgeot.

"(Sorry, this had to end with either of us fainting. Guess it was you,)" Pikachu said as he charged up his **Electro Ball** before slamming it into Pidgey's side, the Electric Mouse Pokémon then used **ThunderShock** , just in case the **Electro Ball** hadn't fainted the Pokémon.

Gary had a brief soft smile as he said, "Pidgey only lost because you got lucky, let's see if that lasts! Go Squirtle!

The water-type started to burst out of his Pokéball with a cocky grin on his face, "(I haven't fainted once and I'm not going to let you change that!)"

"Squirtle, use **Water Gun**!" Gary said, sure that he would knock out Pikachu with this attack, "Use **Scratch** if it doesn't faint from the **Water Gun**!"

"Dodge, then use **Electro Ball** followed by an **Iron Tail**!" Ash said, did Gary really think that the one **Water Gun** would knock Pikachu out?

Pikachu leapt to the side, dodging the **Water Gun** by a fair margin, the Pikachu then started backpedalling to create some distance between him and his opponent. The Electric-type charged his electric energy into his tail and formed a ball which he threw at Squirtle.

The Squirtle realised this and started running closer, shooting a **Water Gun** towards Pikachu. The Water-type's claws sharpened and glowed white so that Squirtle could slash them into Pikachu.

"Pikachu, let him hit you!" Ash said, seeing that Pikachu got a good hit on Squirtle. If Pikachu timed a **ThunderShock** correctly, he'd be able to get a perfect close-range attack that could cause Gary's Squirtle to faint.

"Hah, admitting defeat Ashy-boy? You knew that I'd win so you stopped putting in the effort, how smart of you!" Gary said, before commanding his Squirtle to use back-to-back Scratch attacks.

Just as Squirtle was about to land his hit, Ash called out, " **ThunderShock** , Pikachu!"

Squirtle realised that he was unlikely to survive the attack that would hit him so he did a back handspring and was about to retract into his shell. As the Squirtle was about to retreat into its shell, Pikachu was able to land a **ThunderShock** on a part of Squirtle that was exposed.

Squirtle grunted, knowing that the next attack (whatever it may be) would knock him out, he heard Gary call, "C'mon Squirtle, try harder! Use a **Water Gun** from a distance."

"Pikachu, use **Electro Ball**! You do realise that Pikachu has a ranged attack as well, right?" Ash said, he could tell that Squirtle was on its last legs but kept on fighting, 'Why is Gary's Pokémon so determined? He better bring them to their full potential, I can already tell they'll be a force to reckon with once they had reached it.

Squirtle spun in his shell and jumped out once he was around seven metres from Pikachu. He did as Gary had told him and water shot of his mouth, aiming towards Pikachu.

The yellow mouse was forming another **Electro Ball** , before flinging it at Squirtle. The Electric-type then used a **ThunderShock** to power the **Electro Ball** so that it would overpower the **Water Gun**.

Pikachu was right since when the ball of electricity met with the jet of water, the **Electro Ball** was able to go through the water easily and hit its target in the chest, knocking the turtle unconscious.

Gary groaned as he saw his Pokémon faint, "You got lucky, Ashy-boy! Next time we meet, I'm going to destroy your team!"

Ash and Leaf watched Gary return his Pokémon before exiting the route with relief on their faces, Gary had that kind of feel that whenever he would enter a room everyone had to look at him because of the arrogance that seemed to drip off of him.

"Do you want to heal Pikachu, or are we just going to head to Viridian Forest?" Leaf asked knowing that Pikachu probably had taken some damage.

"We'll go to the Pokémon centre, first," Ash said, "Then we'll go to the forest."

Once they had entered the forest, Ash and Leaf looked at the forest that they would, most likely, be in for around a week. Ash and Leaf only took a few steps in before noticing a lot of Pokémon around them. Weedle, Caterpie and their evolved forms clung to the trees with a curious look on their faces.

"There were thirty of us that came from Pallet Town. These Pokémon have probably noticed that a lot of humans are entering the forest," Ash said, noticing that the Pokémon seemed to nod as he said that.

Leaf also agreed with Ash and added, "How many trainers do you think they've beaten? I mean, wouldn't those trainers have captured them once they had won? I guess the population is pretty high or our competition isn't that good."

Ash and Leaf kept on walking until they were stopped by a group of Kakuna and Weedle. The group of Pokémon went across the path and into the trees. The two sighed knowing that these Pokémon needed to be defeated in order for them to move on.

"Alright, go Riolu!" Ash said, throwing the Fighting-type's Pokéball, "Start off with a **Sunny Day** , we'll boost the power of **Blaze Kick**!"

Leaf threw out Nidoran's Pokéball, "Alright Nidoran, let's get some experience for you!"

The two Pokémon looked at the horde of Weedle and Kakuna with a sigh. These Pokémon didn't look that strong but there were so many that this was bound to take a while. Riolu started as Ash told him to and formed a ball of light in his hands which he then sent off into the sky as a beam. His legs started to glow red as a flame seeped up them, he'd have to keep his legs alight for a while. Nidoran, on the other hand, looked at the Pokémon with disbelief. These Pokémon were, most likely, going to land at least one attack on the Poison-type and that was probably going to do some damage. Along with the poison effect that it could give to Riolu, this fight was going to be hard.

"Nidoran, use **Growl** on all of them!" Leaf said, she would tell Nidoran to do this repeatedly. Stacking some defence debuffs would make this fight go more smoothly.

"Riolu, one of your strongest attacks is **Close Combat** which includes a lot of punches and kicks. Use **Blaze Kick** along with **Sky Uppercut** to take these Pokémon down. This is going to be good training for you!" Ash said to Riolu, who responded with a growl of acknowledgement.

Nidoran started growling at the large horde of Pokémon (Ash had guessed that there were around eighty whilst Leaf said that there was probably a hundred.) Riolu leapt at a tree before bouncing off and going on a rampage. His arms were thrown forwards and upwards slamming into the various Bug-types. His legs seemed to have a mind of their own as they seemed to hit targets that Riolu hadn't noticed such as a poor Kakuna who was spamming **Harden**.

Nidoran finished his debuffing so Leaf ordered him to start using **Peck** on the swarm, he sighed knowing that even with Riolu's help, this would take a long time.

"And Riolu use **Blaze Kick** on that last one!" Ash said, aggravated by the bug-types. As soon as they thought they had finished, another Weedle or Kakuna would appear with many tailing them.

Riolu axe kicked the Weedle that was left, finally knocking out the... twenty-first swarm? He could just feel all the EXP from those hordes. It must've taken at least two hours! He noticed that Pikachu was snoring on Ash's shoulders, he must have fallen asleep during the seventh swarm.

"It took... two hours and thirty-six minutes plus the time it took to take down the first swarm," Ash said checking the stopwatch that he started when the second swarm came in.

"You know Ash, I think Bulbasaur is going to evolve before we reach the end of the forest," Leaf checking her Pokémon's level; Bulbasaur was level 14, two levels before normally Bulbasaurs are able to evolve, "My parents did say that Viridian Forest was going to include a lot of wild Pokémon battles but not in one go!"

Ash smiled at his friend's comment, "That's what my mum said as well. My dad just told me to not expect a quiet trek through the forest."

Riolu sighed, about to lie on the ground, before starting to look around with a panicked look on his face, "(Ash! There are Beedrill around us. Beedrill that want to harm us!)"

"Oh fuck! Leaf, there are Beedrill surrounding us! Hold on!" Ash said, extending his hands out for Leaf and Riolu to take, "Alright, three! Two! One! Riolu, **Agility** '"

Riolu nodded and used the move. He started running, pulling Ash and Leaf with him. The swarm of Beedrill were following them but the distance between them was growing.

"Riolu, there are Beedrill to our right! Turn left and keep running, if we have a good lead use **Rain Dance**! That should slow them down!" Ash said, knowing that rain would make it harder for the Bug-types to chase them, "Pikachu, wake up and use **Electro Ball**!"

Pikachu opened his eyes groggily, had they finished the fight? Wait no, they were running from Beedrill. Beedrill with a look on their faces that conveyed a strong hatred. Well then, he would need to take them down! He used **ThunderShock** to try and zap them out of the sky, ignoring that he was on Ash's shoulders.

"Pikachu! Now is not the time to shock me! Use **Electro Ball**!" Ash said before hearing Leaf laugh at him, "Shut up, Leaf! Pikachu's **ThunderShock** hurts, I dare you to get shocked by him!"

Leaf stopped laughing and threw Spearow's Pokéball, "Spearow, either head into the swarm and use the **Tri-attack/Peck** combo or just use **Tri-attack** from here!"

Spearow perched onto Leaf's shoulder and formed the three balls of electricity, fire and ice and shot them at the swarm of Spearow. The beams moved across the swarm doing some damage to the incoming Beedrill. It didn't knock out a Beedrill instantaneously but after being hit a few times they'd drop or be unable to keep up with the others.

"So Ash, what's the plan? I don't think Riolu has enough energy to keep this up much longer!" the brunette said, knowing that the hours of combat had taken a toll on him. Bulbasaur had been switched out multiple times but Riolu had gone through those swarms without a break (he must've gained a lot of speed and defence EVs.)

"Keep running until we find somewhere to hide, I think you can use **Rain Dance** now!" Ash said seeing that the Beedrill were pretty far behind, "Let's go!"

Riolu, let go of Ash, slowing down slightly due to stopping the speed buff from increasing, before forming the ball of water. He charged it up for longer than normal, making sure that the cloud would be large enough so that it would be useful. The group of Beedrill were around 25 metres behind them so he grabbed Ash and Leaf's hand and continued to use his **Agility**.

Leaf spotted something in the distance, "I see a house, you think they'll let us in?"

"I don't know but it's probably our best chance of coming out of this unscathed," Ash replied as they neared the door to the house, "Help! There's an incoming swarm of Beedrill!"

The door opened wide before Ash and Leaf were thrown into the house. Their Pokémon slumped onto the ground whilst their Pokéballs rolled on the floor. Ash groaned, whoever dragged them into the house had a good grip.

"Oh shit! I know you were nice and all letting us into your house, but like, did you have to pull us _that_ hard?" Leaf said, she could tell she had a bruise on her left arm, the part of her body that she had landed on.

"Oh, err... my bad. I do have quite a strong grip," the owner said, they heard the voice Ash and Leaf would've expected from a young girl.

As Ash got up, he looked at the person who dragged him in. It was a thin, young, blonde-haired girl. She wore a yellow dress with black sleeves along with light blue jeans, purple boots and a straw hat that was tilted to the side.

Leaf got up as well, looking at the young girl, before laughing slowly, "What the... how are you so strong? I mean, you're a thin, young girl. How the fuck did you do that?"

Leaf was about to continue before the blonde girl looked at her with a genuinely confused expression, "Didn't I say that I have a strong grip a minute ago? Anyway, my name is Yellow, from the Viridian Forest!"

"Well then," Ash said, brushing himself off, "my name is Ash Ketchum, I'm from Pallet Town! The girl freaking out about your strength is Leaf Green, also from Pallet Town. Pikachu and Riolu, say hi!"

The two Pokémon waved their hands. Riolu was about to say hello before he sensed a Pokémon close to them, inside the house. From his emotion reading ability, he could tell that the Pokémon was gentle and didn't want to hurt them. He smiled and waved in that direction before listening to the conversation.

Pikachu noticed something as well, it smelt similar to him, maybe a little less ketchup but it seemed almost identical. He followed the scent until he was under a small pillow. He opened his eyes only to see a familiar sight.

The Pikachu opposite him had a gentle smile on their face, "(Another Pikachu? That's cool, my name's Chuchu, I'm Yellow's unofficial Pokémon!)"

"(Never seen another Pikachu in... I guess I haven't seen another Pikachu for a few years!)" Pikachu said with a grin, "(I don't really have a nickname, Ash, my trainer, just calls me Pikachu. Any likes or dislikes? I have what Ash calls an 'addiction' with ketchup, but I like to just call it a strong desire. What about you?)"

Chuchu giggled, laughing at the addiction, "(I like chilli sauce, helps me run faster! Running is one of my favourite things to do, it's just so... accomplishing!)"

Whilst the two Pikachu continued talking, Ash and Leaf were listening to Yellow, "I'm actually a psychic. One of the lesser known things about Butterfree is its moderately powerful psychic capabilities. I'm good friends with all the Pokémon in the forest and the Butterfree taught me how to use these psychic powers that I have...Anyway, I have a favour to ask of you."

"And that is..." Leaf said, gesturing for Yellow to continue.

"The trainers passing through here have been harming the environment and Pokémon have been disappearing left and right.." the blonde's hair started whipping around and a wave of psychic energy passed through them, "You better make sure that you aren't one of them."

Pikachu noticed the malevolence coming from Yellow, "(Erm... Chuchu, what's happened to Yellow?)"

Chuchu sweatdropped as she saw Yellow, "(That's why Yellow doesn't have many human visitors. She takes the state of the environment and the Pokémon living in it pretty seriously. This always happens whenever she has a feeling that someone will hurt either of the two that were previously mentioned.)"

Pikachu scratched the back of his head, "(It's for a noble cause. I won't hold it against her.")

Ash felt a bit of fear run through him, this small blonde girl see "We'll try not to!"

Leaf looked at Yellow with a quizzical look, like a teacher confused at a student's answer "Why are you using fear to manipulate? You should always use empty promises and deceit, how do you think I survive? You manipulate or are manipulated and you should only use the most reliable form of manipulation!"

"Oh, hehe. Thanks for the advice, Leaf! I just don't want the Pokémon in the forest to get hurt. Every year, trainers come through the forest and capture my friends. I don't want them to get hurt. So, how do I use empty promises and deceit to make sure it doesn't happen?" the blonde said, genuinely wanting Leaf's insight.

Ash decided to tune out as he realised he had no place in the conversation. He looked at the two Pikachu, his Pikachu and another female one (presumably Yellow's.) He smiled at how it seemed like they were both best friends. He'd definitely tease Pikachu about this after.

Once Leaf had finished telling Yellow how to control others through words, Yellow smiled, "Thank you Leaf! You're really smart!"

Leaf just blushed at this, "Thanks Yellow. I might as well ask this, who's that Pokémon?"

"Hm? That's Chuchu, my unofficial Pokémon. I haven't actually caught her but we're inseparable!" Yellow said, causing Chuchu to move away from Pikachu and onto Yellow's shoulder.

Ash noticed that she had said she hadn't caught Chuchu, "Would you like to? Catch Chuchu, I mean. I have a lot of spare Pokéballs from an incident."

Yellow took the Pokéball Ash held in his hand and looked at Chuchu who wore a face of acceptance. They both nodded before Yellow tapped the Pokéball's button on Chuchu's head.

Once the ball signalled that Chuchu had been captured, Yellow threw the Pokéball causing Chuchu to return to the place it was before Yellow put it in his Pokéball.

"Well Chuchu, you're my first official Pokémon!" Yellow said, causing Chuchu to run up her arm and onto her left shoulder like how Pikachu would run up Ash's shoulder, "I know that there'll be some more friends for you down the line."

Ash looked out the window and saw that the last of the Beedrill had left, "That's all of the Beedrill gone! Sorry for suddenly crashing into your house, Yellow. Anyway, we need to continue our journey through Viridian Forest. Can we just ask for you to tell us where the path is? We did panic when we ran here, so..."

Yellow had a slightly crestfallen face but she quickly covered it with a smile, "Well, once you leave the door, keep walking straight and you should reach the main path. Well, erm, anyway, I hope we meet each other again!"

Ash gave a smile whilst Leaf gave her a pat on the head before saying, "Remeber the thing I told you about manipulation, alright. Anyway, once we meet again, I'll test you to see how far manipulation skills have gone alright. It's always more fun to be the controller than the controlled."

Yellow readjusted her straw hat before giving them a sincere smile, "After you, I do have a little errand I have to go on."

The two trainers, after saying goodbye to Yellow, continue on their path through the route. Once they had walked for a good few minutes of peace and nature, they noticed that there were trainers lining the sides of the path.

"Alright, why the fuck are there so many of you? Is there some magic treasure because it's really starting to piss me off!" Leaf growled, there had been at least twelve trainers that she had to battle, "Like seriously, what the fuck is so important about this area?"

One of the bug catchers on the route looked at her with a dumb smirk, "Because we want to take down all you weak trainers. After all, you're Pokémon will have been weakened by all the battles you'd have had so it's almost impossible to get past!"

"Yeah, well shut the fuck up!" Leaf started glowing red with anger, "Who said I have to battle you anyway? It's not like you have to battle someone if you have eye contact. What kind of messed up world do you think this is?"

"Eh, are you too chicken?" one of the younger trainers said causing Ash to shudder. Leaf was a complex person (like many others) but there was one straightforward thing: If you say Leaf can't do something, she'll do it, no matter how stupid it is.

Ash looked at the boy with a pitiful expression, "You just signed you and your Pokémon's graves, kid."

Leaf had already sent out Nidoran's Pokéball, "Alright then, send out your Pokémon so that we can get this over with!"

The young boy that had challenged Leaf was sweating bullets, "Erm, Caterpie, I choose you!"

"Alright, Nidoran use **Peck**!" Leaf said, her aggression being used in the battle.

Nidoran launched himself towards the small bug with his horn glowing and a grin on his face. The small bug cowered in fear and curled into a ball.

"Caterpie, use **String Shot** to tie it to the ground!" the small boy said with a fearful look in his eyes, "Use **Tackle** afterwards!"

Nidoran was only a few centimetres away from Caterpie before he had a sticky white substance on his face. His horn was still glowing and, despite Nidoran being blindfolded by the **String Shot** , he was able to get a good hit on the Bug-type.

Leaf smiled at this, "Nidoran, make some distance so you can take the **String Shot** off your face!"

Whilst Nidoran was jumping backwards, clawing at his face to get rid of the white substance, his small green opponent was trying to close the distance so before using **Tackle**.

"Caterpie, use **String Shot**!" Leaf's opponent said with an annoyed look, "Your Pokémon shouldn't be able to rip that string off!"

The Caterpie used String Shot and missed by a large margin, Leaf's Nidoran sidestepped (not knowing that the attack would have already missed even if he hadn't dodged) away from the string of white substance, finally being able to tear off the string from his face.

"Nidoran, use **Peck** again!" Leaf commanded. This battle should be over unless he was one of those trainers that just caught a hundred or so Weedle and Caterpie and tried to use all of them in a battle.

The Caterpie was unable to dodge the flying-type attack and was knocked out, slumping on the floor with his eyes replaced by swirls and their body was completely still excluding the breathing.

"Well done, Caterpie! You did really well for your first battle!" the trainer said with a grin, "Alright, here's my secret weapon! I choose you, Weedle!"

The Weedle that was sent out looked at Nidoran with a cocky smirk that just screamed confidence.

"Alright, Nidoran use **Peck** and **Double Kick** to do some chip damage!" Leaf said, guessing that the Weedle was level 100 or something to be his secret weapon. Maybe if he evolved it to Kakuna at the minimum and used some X items, he'd probably be able to do some damage to a full team.

The brunette's Nidoran charged at the Weedle, who stood there with his cocky smirk. Weedle pointed the horn on his head at Nidoran and kept it angled at him until he faltered slightly. Because of Weedle faltering, Nidoran was able to quickly jab at Weedle with his horn, throwing off the small yellow Pokémon. Nidoran then seized victory as he used **Double Kick** , pushing Weedle onto the ground in a heap.

"Finish it off with **Peck** , Nidoran!"

Nidoran leapt on top of Weedle and started vigorously jabbing his horn into Weedle's stomach. The battle was soon over since Nidoran jumped off of Weedle and went back to his trainer's side.

"Hah, your Pokémon is poisoned now, my Weedle had Poison Point for its ability! Now my real secret weapon can take you down. Alright then, go Butterfree!"

A butterfly popped out of the Pokéball with a gentle smile on its blue face. Butterfree had a purple body with two small blue claws on the upper part of his body with similar coloured blue legs and white wings with a black pattern on it.

"Butterfree, start off with **Sleep Powder** on that Nidoran so we have no resistance!" Leaf's opponent said with a cocky smirk, similar to the one his Weedle had when it was fighting.

"Nidoran... kick some dirt up to block the dust! Then use **Leer**!" Leaf said, knowing that Nidoran had no way of dodging the powder, "Hold your breath, don't breathe any of the powder in!"

Most of the dust was blocked by the cloud of dust that Nidoran had kicked up. Nidoran then started glaring at Butterfree with a malevolent grin, clearly not wanting to sleep. Butterfree started flying backwards, the cloud of sleep-inducing powder would still affect him if he breathed it in.

"Butterfree, use **Gust** to throw it into a tree! Then use **Confusion**! Let's knock that Pokémon out!"

"Nidoran, stand your ground and keep using **Leer**! Brace yourself!" Leaf said before adding, "Use **Double Kick** into the ground to keep your balance!"

"Butterfree, strengthen your **Gust**! I want you to throw him into the tree. We have to make sure that he can't recover from the **Confusion**!"

"Nidoran, deepen your legs into the ground! I think we've lowered their defence enough! Use **Focus Energy** before trying to power your way through the **Gust**!" Leaf said, knowing that Nidoran would be able to cripple Butterfree if he landed a **Peck**.

"Instead of using **Gust** , just use **Confusion**! Let's just get some damage done! Also, can we use another **Stun Spore**!"

"Nidoran, don't power your way through! Instead, I want you to make a barrier of dust again. Actually, throw a tree into the cloud, you don't have any non-physical attacks so we need a projectile to attack."

"Keep using **Stun Spore** for a bit longer, Butterfree!"

Butterfree was running out of dust to spray and the concentration of dust was lessening. In fact, Butterfree stopped using **Stun Spore** entirely and started focusing their psychic powers on Nidoran.

Nidoran winced at the attack but, realising that the Bug-type had ceased their Gust attack, leapt with **Double Kick** and headbutted the Flying-type with his horn bruising the Butterfly's head.

Nidoran winced again before fainting from the Confusion being used as he attacked. As he collapsed, the butterfly he had attacked also crumpled onto the floor. It appeared that Butterfree had put 100% into their offensive capabilities and 0% into defence.

"Aw, how could I lose? I trained so hard for these battles, I made sure that Butterfree could knock out low-level Pokémon like a breeze!" Leaf's opponent said, handing over a decent amount of prize money for an 8-year-old unofficial Pokémon trainer.

Leaf returned her Pokémon with a sigh, she'd had quite a few back-to-back Pokémon battles using Nidoran. She wasn't sure if Nidoran could win the battle by himself but, to her surprise, Nidoran pulled through.

She was about to celebrate when she heard Ash shout, "What the fuck!"

Ash had only looked at his Pokénav for five seconds before he sidestepped away from a sword. Ash noted that the blade had shined in light, it was either made of actual metal or coated in a metallic paint.

"Riolu, we'll need to snap that sword!" the trainer shouted, his father had told him he would be attacked on his journey but he hadn't expected to be attacked this early on.

Whilst Ash was dodging the sword swings, Riolu was darting around the sword-wielder. The small Fighting-type was waiting for a moment where he could use an attack on the sword.

Ash noticed that the sword-wielder had slightly loosened his grip on the sword. Ash took advantage of this and quickly disarmed the attacker. The 12-year-old ran his right index finger over the blade, cold and smooth like steel... this could've harmed him beyond saving.

Ash held the sword flat in both palms before calling Riolu to snap the sword with **Sky Uppercut**. Once the sword was snapped (and shattered soon after), the owner of the sword cried in, what seemed to come off as, grief.

Ash replied to the scream of sorrow with, "You tried to attack me with a fucking sword. A sword that was made of fucking steel. I'd be crying way louder if I got hit and was sent to a hospital, most likely not coming out with a life-changing injury!"

Leaf ran over to Ash to check if he got grazed. She noticed that there was a small cut on Ash's right index finger, the blade placed a shallow wound when we ran his finger over it. She took some disinfectant from her bag and sprayed it on the wound.

Ash winced slightly whilst Riolu kept his eyes on their attacker. The Pokémon took a closer look at the boy that was weeping on the ground and mumbling incoherent words.

The boy was wearing a samurai outfit, samurai armour and headpiece, and looked straight out of an anime. In fact, maybe this guy was cosplaying?

Riolu was going to ponder a bit more until he realised that Ash had turned around and was walking away. Riolu was running back to Ash's side when he heard a corse voice.

"Battle me!" the boy said as loud as he could, "Please let me redeem myself after you have dishonoured me and broke my sword!"

Leaf sniggered and said to Ash in a borderline shout, "So Ash, he sounds pretty desperate, huh? Are you going you battle him?"

Ash inwardly cursed, he could've pretended that he had never heard the boy but now that Leaf had asked Ash aloud, he couldn't say no, "Fine..."

"Alright then, I choose you, Pinsir!" the samurai said after he had recovered, sending out a large brown bipedal bug into the battlefield. It had two thick horns on the top of his head, each horn having multiple small horns protruding out of them. The Pokémon had short, thick legs whilst its arms were long and thin.

"Well then, Pikachu, let's do this!" Ash said, knowing Pikachu would be able to get this done quickly if things played out perfectly, "Alright Pikachu, use **Quick Attack** to get some momentum into that **Iron Tail**! Do a close-range **ThunderShock** to get some extra damage!"

"Pinsir, use a **Harden** a few times to boost your defence! Then..." the Samurai said, Pinsir had a great defence but the added defence buffs would help.

Pikachu used **Quick Attack** to start moving faster, he circled the Bug-type a few times before jumping towards the centre with a flip.

Pinsir had been spamming **Harden** and was able to get two defence buffs before Pikachu flipped towards him. Pikachu had an **Iron Tail** and flipped again to slam the brown bug into the ground.

Pikachu slammed his tail and did a decent amount of damage with Pinsir having a 150% defence boost. Pinsir started glowing orange, causing Pikachu to backpedal a bit.

Pinsir's trainer smiled, "Use **Revenge**!"

Ash winced, 120 base power would do quite a lot of damage to Pikachu, who was either a sweeper or mixed attacker, "Pikachu, bounce back with an **Iron Tail**! He's going to attack so brace yourself, try and meet the blow with an **Iron Tail**."

Pikachu did as Ash told him to and slammed his metallic tail into the ground which knocked him back a fair distance. Whilst in mid-air, he prepared another **Iron Tail** to counter that **Revenge**.

Pinsir charged at Pikachu with unexpected speed, arm outstretched with most of the aura being focused into Pinsir's fist. Pikachu twirled in the air and smashed his metal tail into Pinsir's fist.

"(Oh fuck!)" Pikachu shouted, causing Riolu to mutter something.

Ash sighed, whilst Pikachu's super effective **Iron Tail** would've had a higher base power than a powered Revenge, Pinsir's higher attacker stat won the clash and sent the yellow Electric-type into a tree that was a few metres away, "Alright Pikachu, defending won't be an option! We're going to need to do a multitude of attacks quickly. Use **Quick Attack** to get some speed, use **Electro Ball** afterwards! Try and use **ThunderShock**!"

Pikachu turned into a blur with a yellow ball of electricity being tossed at Pinsir. Whilst Pinsir took the hit well, Pikachu slammed into the stomach of the Stag Beetle Pokémon with all the force he had.

" **Vital Throw** , Pinsir!" the samurai-cosplaying guy shouted.

Pinsir leaned in to grab Pikachu and throw him into the ground but Pikachu had already distanced himself from the large bug.

"Keep the distance and mix **ThunderShock** and **Electro Ball** together!" Ash shouted Pikachu couldn't use **Iron Tail** again since Pinsir was on guard and looking for a moment where Pikachu would be close enough to grab.

"Pinsir, charge in and use **Revenge**!"

"Pikachu, keep the sparks going!" Ash said seeing that Pikachu was tossing an **Electro Ball** and then following it up with a **ThunderShock** , "Keep some distance, if it catches you, you're not gonna last much longer!"

Whilst Pikachu was zapping Pinsir and then doing a back handspring to get away, Pinsir was charging at Pikachu and taking all the attacks that were thrown at it. Pikachu was tiring from the constant stream of electricity that he had been producing and Pinsir ceased the opportunity.

"Pikachu, twist in the air and land with an **Iron Tail**!" Ash said as Pinsir grabbed the yellow mouse and threw him into the air. Pikachu did as Ash told him to and twisted in the air to make sure he wouldn't faceplant before he moved his tail underneath him and giving it a metallic sheen.

"Pinsir, **Vice Grip** whilst he's landing!"

Pinsir leapt with his two large horns, seeming to want to impale Pikachu on one of them. Pikachu, who had just landed and was about to get up, was smashed on both sides of his face by the horn.

"Close range **ThunderShock**! Hit as much of the body as possible!"

"Pinsir, **Vital Throw** into the ground!"

Pikachu did a small leap away from Pinsir, staying just out of arms reach. The mouse was sidestepping around the Pinsir, ducking and weaving around the two arms that tried to grab him.

Pikachu kept the **ThunderShock** going until he could feel that he wouldn't be able to go on for much longer.

" **Iron Tail** from the back, Pikachu!" Ash said knowing that Pikachu was running out of electricity to use. He would need to use his speed to hit quick and then get the hell out of dodge.

Pikachu turned into a blur with **Quick Attack** and ran around Pinsir before landing a solid **Iron Tail** to the back of Pinsir's head.

"Pinsir, use **Vice Grip**! You can take him down!"

Pinsir turned around but didn't see anything since Pikachu had already sped away to Ash's side. Pinsir started running, albeit slowly due to the head injury and exhaustion, to Pikachu with his horns ready to squeeze Pikachu.

"Let's end this, **ThunderShock** along with an **Iron Tail**!" Ash shouted with a smirk, the battle was definitely almost over.

He was wrong, although not completely. As Pikachu sent the **ThunderShock** and flipped in the air to land the **Iron Tail** , he noticed that Pinsir already had swirls in his eyes and that he wasn't running but trying to gain his bearings before tumbling in a heap.

"You did well, Pinsir!" the boy said, returning Pinsir to his Pokéball, "Go, Metapod!"

"Pikachu, come back. You did well but I can tell that you've run out of juice," Ash said, spraying Pikachu with a Potion, "You deserved some ketchup, it's at the back of my bag. Behind the table and pot. But anyway, Bagon! Let's end this!"

"Metapod, use **Harden**!"

"Bagon, use **Fire Fang**! Let's finish this battle early!" Ash said with a hint of worry in his voice, was this trainer going to spam **Harden** and then keep using **Tackle**.

Whilst Metapod gained both a metallic sheen and a blue glow that pushed upwards, Bagon leapt to behind Metapod before sinking flaming teeth into Metapod.

"Use **Harden** , Metapod! We can't be taken down this early!" the bug-catching samurai said, his strategy was definitely to just stall.

"Bagon, **Dragon Pulse**!" Ash said, he could rely on Bagon's special attacks to finish this, "Bagon, use **Leer** well, we can't let that Metapod's defence quadruple!"

As it had been last time, Metapod started gaining a metallic sheen and its body strengthened, its defence had now been doubled so it would take physical hits better. Unfortunately for him, **Dragon Pulse** is a special move so the doubled defence would do nothing.

After shooting the beam of purple at Metapod, doing a fairly high amount of damage with it, Bagon narrowed his eyes thus neutralising the second defence buff. Bagon charged its second **Dragon Pulse** to take the Metapod down, he had always had a strong dislike for staller. If he wanted to wait, he would have stayed inside his Pokéball!

"Flame it, Bagon! I'm not in the mood for making this battle longer," Ash said before also adding, "Why don't you get as close a hit as possible? No, I want you to keep your beam trained on him, let's see how long your attack takes to knock him out after constant exposure."

With the ball significantly larger than normal, Bagon released the beam out of his mouth with his teeth ablaze causing the **Dragon Pulse** to be coloured an orangey-red. The beam wavered around Metapod before finally staying on the green Bug-type with a few moments where the beam would inch upwards.

After around twelve seconds, Metapod collapsed with burn marks covering where the beam had hit him. Metapod was returned to his Pokéball whilst Bagon walked back to Ash's shoulder and stretched.

"That took twelve seconds to knock out Metapod. That's pretty good but I do think that we should practice on your aim though, or maybe practice on the stability of the attack," Ash said before pulling a bottle of lemonade out of his bag, he was only able to take a gulp when the ground shook from an explosive force.

"What... holy shit, there's smoke!" Leaf shouted, seeing the plume of an oily black smoke rise in the sky.

"We both know that's Yellow, right?" Ash said to Leaf, Yellow went in the direction the smoke cloud was rising from.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Leaf said back, "Oh well, it was nice knowing her."

Ash pulled Leaf back as she was about to walk away, "No Leaf, we're not going to let someone we know die, not without knowing that I did everything I could do to protect them!"

Leaf sighed, knowing that Ash was right, "Fine then Mr Moral Fibre! Unlike you, I don't go out of my way to help people. And now that I've said that out loud, I can tell I've made myself look like an asshole. C'mon, let's go save Yellow and restore my reputation!"

* * *

 **Hey, didn't I say that this would come out within a month?**

 **Anyway, I have a question to ask of you all, should Yellow to join Ash and Leaf in their journey or to stay in the Viridian Forest and be mentioned in later chapters and have small appearances later on? There'll be a poll on my profile so check it out and tell me what you think. The poll will be up for a week so you can put what you want into the poll and I'll see you all next time!**


	4. Ash's First Capture

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon because that belongs to Nintendo.**

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic speech_ ' = Telepathy

* * *

"So, do you think Yellow caused the explosion or do you think Yellow was the victim of the explosion. Or you know, they're completely unrelated?" Ash asked Leaf, Yellow seemed to be able to take care of herself so her being the cause of the explosion wasn't completely out of the picture.

"Yes Ashy, the girl who takes the protection of nature seriously decides to just blow up the environment. Yes, that makes a lot of sense, don't you think?" Leaf replied, slightly aggressive almost completely forgetting that she tried to walk out of this a few minutes ago.

"The explosion came from pretty far away, don't you think?" Ash said as they passed the nth oak tree, "I doubt we'll make it on time at this speed and Riolu is exhausted from escaping that swarm of Beedrill."

"Well since we'll be running for around twenty minutes, have you got anything interesting to talk about. I have a story, but I thought you should go first," Leaf said realising that they would be running for quite a while.

"Not really, I'm just waiting for our upcoming trek through Mount Moon. The Clefairy family are pretty good normal types with their wide movepool and whilst their base stats aren't extraordinary, they're solid. That and the fact that they're so well-balanced that they can take on pretty much anything and still have a chance of winning," Ash said, there wasn't exactly anything important that came to mind other than the fact that Arceus had told him he would find a legendary, who still hadn't appeared.

"Alright then, so you know I moved to Sinnoh but I doubt you knew where it was exactly. So anyway, I moved to Celestic Town because my mum said that it was 'quiet yet intriguing.' The town had these ruins that were pretty cool. So I walk in their and look around and because I'm a small child in large ass cave, I get shown out. Good decision to make sure that small child does not get lost in the cave and die." Leaf said, before hearing another explosion.

"You know, I think Yellow's gonna be pretty badly injured if she wasn't the cause of the explosion," Ash said, the second explosion was a little to the left so they both turned slightly as they kept their speedy jog.

"Yeah, we should probably go faster!" Leaf said before continuing her story, "So anyway, I decided to be a rebellious child and went full Solid Snake to sneak out my house and into the cave. Definitely the peak of my stealthy career."

"You had a job?"

"Does it look like I can get a job, Ashy? Seriously, I'm too young to be hired for something, unless we're talking about acting or being a one-man sales company, which I've done both of. Now seriously, stop interrupting me or we'll be where the bomb is before I get to the meat of the story!" Leaf said, sighing before continuing her story again, "So, I sneaked in their like a pro. I went into the cave, which was pretty large I'm adding, and started exploring because, as I mentioned earlier, it was pretty fucking big. So anyway, I was looking around for something interesting because there had to be something cool in this large ass cave. So I kept searching and I found these tablets with weird runes. They weren't English or any language that use symbols similar to the forms of Unown. So I was watching it, wondering whether or not I should take one to see if it had any value when this tall blonde girl came behind me and..."

"Hah, don't mess with us or we'll have to hurt you again, little girl!" a gruff voice said, seeming to be only twenty or so metres away.

The two became silent as the crouched and started walking as lightly as possible towards the voice. The owner of the voice was definitely a threat, who else threatens a little girl?

"Look, you're the ninth person to try and stop me. I blew two of them up with Chuchu's Thunderbolt. Please stop trying, you're only hurting the environment... and yourself if Chuchu get's particularly vicious," the two heard Yellow say.

Ash looked at Leaf with a grin, her logical conclusion that Yellow wasn't the cause was thrown out the window. Yellow seemed to have this pretty figured out but, just in case, Ash and Leaf walked over to the gruff voice, being careful to stay hidden in the shadows and foliage.

Once the two were close enough, they realised that the gruff voice belonged to a Team Rocket grunt and a grunt that didn't seem as much of a pushover as the ones they had fought in the Pokémon Centre.

"Alright then, Chuchu, **Thunderwave** on that Nidorina!"

"Nidorina, dodge with **Quick Attack**!"

"Keep trying Chuchu!"

Ash and Leaf could just make out the Nidoran rolling to the side with white trailing behind her. They also saw the yellow electricity trying to paralyse the Poison-type Pokémon.

The Nidorina kept dodging the sparks until one of them grazed her ear causing her to freeze for a second as sparks crossed over her body.

"Chuchu, throw her senses off with **ThunderShock** to the head. Make sure that you don't hurt it badly."

Ash and Leaf were confused at what Leaf meant but after the **ThunderShock** hit Nidorina, it started shaking with its head swivelling around as if it had been spinning for an hour and then suddenly stopped.

'She must have used the electricity to throw off Nidorina's balance and hearing... so she somehow was able to get the electricity into Nidoran's brain and make it's hearing stop for a while,' Ash thought as he saw Nidoran collapse with little to no damage on Nidorina.

"She won't be able to stand or hear for an hour so I suggest returning her to a Pokéball. Now leave, I'm getting bored of all you annoying people, just go back to your base and stay there," Yellow said, causing Ash and Leaf to have a bit more respect for the small blonde, after all standing up to a Team Rocket grunt and then talking to them as a superior takes some bravery.

"It's good that I didn't just bring Pokémon!" they heard the grunt say as he pulled out a gleaming blade, "I'll just kill you myself!"

The man was only able to make one step before he felt a sharp pain in his back. He turned around to see a Pikachu with a metal tail hopping away from him.

He wasn't dead, but was feeling a lot of pain and sprawled on the floor. That was good enough for Ash since he came out of where they had been watching and grabbed the knife from the Team Rocket member.

Leaf came out as well before slamming her foot down on the hand the grunt held the knife with quite a lot of force. She heard a few cracks coming from the hand and had a satisfied smile.

Ash looked at the man with a blank face simply saying, "People really need to look at knife crime in this area. I've witnessed knife attacks twice in the same hour!"

Yellow looked a bit confused before realising that Ash and Leaf had come here, "Oh, erm... Hi, Ash and Leaf. I didn't think we'd see each other this soon but that doesn't really matter. Why did you come here?"

"An explosion with a large smoke cloud appears where our friend was going and we're expected to not try and help?" Leaf said in mock confusion.

Ash laughed at Yellow's confused face, "By the way, were you the one that caused the explosion since Leaf is doubting your abilities?"

"What, no I wasn't!" the brunette retorted before facing Yellow's accusing glare, "I just thought that since you wanted to protect nature and the environment, you wouldn't... well, blow it up."

Yellow stopped the glare before saying, "That's a fair point. It's just that they kept bringing Pokémon that I couldn't neutralise without doing some damage. In fact, the attack was able to do a lot of damage to them so I think Chuchu did pretty well."

The small yellow mouse enjoyed the scratch behind the ear before seeing Pikachu and sprinting towards Ash's Pokémon. Pikachu didn't see this coming since when Yellow's Pikachu jumped to give Pikachu a hug, he didn't notice and fell on the floor with Chuchu on top of him.

"So Yellow, did you know that this forest has a bunch of knife crime. I was attacked twice in the same hour! First, this bug catcher who was cosplaying as a samurai appeared and tries to slice me with a katana and then a member of a crime organisation tries to stab someone else. The League should make a diversion from Viridian City to Pewter City. Well, I guess you could go west into the trees but those are unmarked on the map so it would be harder to make our way there." Ash said, needing to rant about the samurai who had bugged him (pun not intended.)

"Did you say a guy cosplaying as a samurai? Damn, that guy is annoying! He tried to slice that dumb sword of his through a Caterpie since he wanted to challenge it. Anyway, other than that, has anything interesting happened. I've kinda been getting bored. I was going to do some errands to look after the forest but they're always completed by the Pokémon inhabiting the forest before I'm even close to starting. I know I'm in a lush, beautiful forest and all but the Pokémon here are protecting it really well and... I guess I'm trying to find a purpose," Yellow said, looking at the ground and scratching her head sheepishly.

Leaf smiled and laughed slightly, "Isn't that what we're all looking for? I mean, being a trainer isn't the greatest long-term career. You barely make anything from most trainer battles. It's just that it allows us to see all the career and job opportunities that are to do with Pokémon such as Gym Leaders, Co-ordinators, contest judges, Pokémon breeders, Pokémon Rangers, Pokémon doctors-"

"Doctors? What, you mean like Nurse Joy?"

"Yeah. Being a Pokémon doctor is pretty simple, you know... a Pokémon doctor is a doctor for Pokémon."

"Huh, being a healer. Ash, Leaf... I think I've found my calling!" Yellow said energetically, running towards some trees that had a few oran berries at the top, "If I start early, I can make this happen!"

Ash had a small smile on his face, "Hey Yellow, I know you a pretty independent person and all, but I was thinking that maybe you should join us. After all, having a healer would benefit all of us a lot!"

Leaf waited for Yellow to reply and snickered at how Ash had been ignored and was still continuing to call out for the blonde due to her new drive to be a healer... Or maybe because she was climbing the fourth tree after collecting berries and jumping off of the top with a scream. The pain in her legs was probably making her ignore it.

"Erm, Yellow!" Ash called out again with his shout falling on deaf ears.

"That girl has a strong drive to be the best! Just stop, Ash. We'll wait for her to finish," Leaf said, seeing that Yellow had no signs of slowing down, "So, do you want me to continue my story? She looks like she'll take a while."

"Yeah sure," Ash replied, sitting down since he knew that Leaf was right. Yellow wasn't going to stop after only raiding five trees of all their fruit. She had raided three oran berry trees and two pecha berry trees and it seemed like that wasn't enough.

"So anyway, I was reading the tablets and the blonde came behind me. So, me being a small innocent girl and the blonde being a tall, twentyish person in black clothing that screamed darkness. I decided to run. Why? Because, of course, I would fucking run if some tall woman was just staring at me like some demon stalker. Anyway, I was running from the woman because I don't like demon stalkers and, because I was running as fast as I could with no solid destination in my mind, I got lost."

"Shouldn't we stop Yellow from jumping off of those trees? It looks like it would hurt her legs," Ash said, interrupting Leaf to worry about Yellow's leg health. She must've broken a bone.

"Nah, she's fine!" Leaf said back before continuing her story, "So, now that I'm lost in a huge ass cave in the dark, I started caring less since my inevitable, inexorable death seemed to be nearing. Deciding that I didn't really have much to lose or give a shit about, I decided to try and talk to the blonde in black. I, like an idiot, decided to say something along the lines of 'My name is Leaf and I live in Celestic Town. Nice to meet you and I hope you don't kill me since it looks like you will!' Of course, as you can see, I didn't die in that place because tall, blonde demon stalker appeared to be a nice person and not desire for the deaths of multiple innocent youths. In fact, she was actually quite a famous person. Why don't you guess, I doubt you'll get it on your first try but-"

"Cynthia, champion of the Sinnoh Region." Ash said quickly, a slight bit of admiration and shock evident on his face, "Don't lie to me Leaf, was that really Cynthia? She's one of the most powerful trainers in the world second only to the current Pokémon master and she was extremely close to beating him in the previous tournament. She's a legend among Pokémon trainers!"

"And also your crush, it appears," Leaf said with a pout on her face, "Yeah, it was Cynthia."

"Whaaaa... You're not bullshitting me?" Ash said, ignoring the comment Leaf had made.

"Stop fanboying over her, she's not that amazing. And, before you argue, let me finish," the brunette said, annoyed at Ash being such a fanboy, "So, since the crazy, stalker person was actually the champion of the Sinnoh region, I decided that I would try and become friends with her. She promised that if I went back to bed, she wouldn't tell my mum about me leaving the house to explore the cave. I left the cave, with the help of Cynthia who knew the caves like the back of her hand, and went back to bed to fall asleep."

"Is that it, or what? Because Yellow really looks like she needs help!" Ash said concern on his face as he saw the girl now limping instead of running with the jumps from the falls taking a toll on her body.

"No Ash, focus on me! It's really starting to bug me out. So anyway, I thought that shady looking woman-"

"Cynthia!"

"Fine, Cynthia. I thought that Cynthia was a cool person and since almost everyone that was in Celestic Town was old and at least pentuple my age, I would become friends with her so I wasn't bored. So, after cleaning myself up and making sure that my mother knew nothing of the cave exploring I did the day before, I headed out to find Cynthia, who I later found out had come to Celestic Town both due to the ruins and the cave but also because Celestic Town was where she was born. So I was looking for Cynthia when I heard shouts from the cave. Apparantly, a rockslide had begun whilst loads of explorers and scientists were still in there. Deciding that it would probably contain a lot of adventure and excitement, I ran over to the cave (still not knowing that at least forty people would die in the rock slide.)"

"Wait, people died in that accident?"

"No, Ash, they were just squashed under a rock which crushed their spine, skull, any and all bones in the body and almost all of their vital organs. No, Ashy, no one died in that accident since we're all apparently superhuman!"

"I was just asking..."

"Don't ask obvious questions then, right? So anyway, an unsupervised child was able to both enter the cave alone at night once, and was then able to get into their again in broad daylight with everyone in their about to be or being crushed by boulders I made it in there (no surprise there) watched as a lot of rocks were falling out the ceiling and squashing and then rolling over human beings. Since I'm such a hero (we're forgetting when I was about to walk out on Yellow by the way-)"

"What!" Leaf heard a voice too high pitched to be Ash's say.

"Oh, erm, Yellow... Forget I said that, I'm just your teacher in manipulation, remember!"

Yellow gave Leaf another accusing glare before softening it and looking at Ash, "Anyway, I was able to find a lot of berries that are generally used for medicinal purposes. I've got oran berries, pecha berries and a few of both cheri berries and rawst berries. I even found three leppa berries and they're extremely rare!"

Ash had a large smile on his face at how hard Yellow looked when she was searching for berries, "Well done, Yellow! You'll be a professional Pokémon doctor in no time! But anyway, when you left, I asked you if you wanted to join me and Leaf on our journey through Kanto and the regions that will definitely come after it. So, the offer still stands, would you like join us?"

Chuchu nodded vigorously whilst Yellow did the same, albeit more gently and skipping the part where Chuchu lost her balance from shaking her head a bit too aggressively, "Definitely, I need Pokémon to heal if I want to become a Pokémon doctor/healer!"

"Cool, we needed a third person to join our group! A trio is a perfect size for a group so that any disagreements won't harm the group as a whole and you are the best person to be the third out of the people that we have all met, " Ash said with a relieved sigh, he didn't want to admit that he was expecting there to be a problem or disagreement between him and Leaf so a third rational (Yellow could be rational... probably) would be much appreciated.

Leaf looked at Ash in mock annoyance, "Wow Ash, really? You don't have any faith in me, do you? That's not nice, Ashy! If I wasn't a nice person, I would've pulled out some embarrassing blackmail. You remember the phase, right Ashy?"

"Hey, stop right there!" they a voice that was much higher pitched shout, "Anyone who gets in the way of Team Rocket must suffer the consequences!"

Yellow shrugged at this and gave the Team Rocket grunt a disappointed sigh before a quizzical look appeared on her face, "As much as we wanted you here, what took you so long? I beat that other guy over there way over ten minutes ago, so again, what took you so long? I don't want to incapacitate another Pokémon so just walk away."

The grunt looked a little confused, expecting Yellow to cower in fear, "Huh, well... Erm... I was kinda playing this really interesting video game and I didn't want to leave in the middle of a mission. That and I heard that our opponent was carrying Electric-type Pokémon so I went to get a Ground-type. Now, get blasted away by my Diglett!"

"Why do you have to know what Pokémon I'm using?" Yellow grumbled before rolling her shoulder backwards, "One of you two are going to have to take this! Chuchu doesn't have any non-electric attacks that will do anything, sorry!"

Ash stepped up to the battle and threw Bagon's Pokéball into the air, "I'll go. Bagon, let's go!"

"Diglett, use **Earthquake**!"

"Bagon, use **Dragon Pulse** on the ground to shoot yourself into the sky. Keep yourself up for as long as possible!"

Diglett started shaking, causing the ground around him to shake even harder. He would've caused Bagon to tumble onto the ground and be completely unbalanced, had the Dragon-type not done a front flip and released draconian energy out of his mouth to propel himself higher. Bagon tried to keep the beam going for as long as possible since the Earthquake was showing no signs of stopping.

"Use **Sandstorm**! It can't avoid that!"

"We've avoided that **Earthquake**! Now we attack, prepare Fire Fang whilst your diving towards Diglett! Use **Dragon Breath** to get rid of any rocks that get to close to you!"

Diglett started spinning with the dirt around it starting to be kicked up into the air and flowing around him violently. Diglett was thrashing around in the hole he was in as he kicked up enough dirt for the air around them to be clouded in a light brown. Once the aggressive tornado of sand was strong enough to satisfy Diglett, it stopped thrashing and waited in the cloud of dirt.

Bagon was diving straight into the dirt cloud, a purple flame below him which burnt any large clumps of sand that could harm him at the speed he was going at. His teeth caught on fire with the licks of fire seeming to fall off of his teeth and straight to the ground. Knowing that if missing and face planting into the ground would most likely crack his skull and certainly kill him, Bagon started to even himself out so he could slow his descent. He made sure that he fell fast enough where he would have a good amount of moment when he finally struck Bagon yet slow enough so that he wouldn't have a cracked skull if he were to miss.

"Use **Mud Bomb** , Diglett!"

"Keep the **Dragon Breath** going, Bagon!"

Whilst Bagon started exhaling the purple flames, Diglett started forming a brown ball in his mouth. The ball grew and was about to be thrown when Diglett felt a sharp pain on both sides of his head. The **Mud Bomb** that the Ground-type was charging had lost control, blowing up in his face.

Bagon loosened his teeth from Diglett's head, jumping off of his opponent and onto the ground directly opposite the small brown Pokémon. Bagon watched as Diglett was thrown back, widening the distance from one metre to around eighteen.

"Bagon, I want you to set fire to the **Sandstorm** with a **Fire Fang** and **Dragon Breath** combo! You're resistant to Fire-type attacks so you should be able to withstand the attack, " Ash called out, quickly getting an idea and wanting to see how it would play out in a battle.

"Diglett, hang in there! Use **Earthquake** again!"

Bagon used **Fire Fang** before setting the dirt and sand around him alight when he added a **Dragon Breath** in. As the flames started spreading through the cloud of dirt, Bagon dodged the **Earthquake** by using a **Dragon Pulse** like he had around four minutes ago.

Whilst Diglett had started another **Earthquake** , his trainer realised that it was futile since the **Earthquake** wasn't damaging Bagon at all, "Alright Bagon, use **Earthquake** again and then use **Dig**!"

Ash and Leaf burst into laughter at this, confusing both the grunt and Yellow. Diglett ignored this since he used another **Earthquake** to start shaking the ground aggressively before digging into the ground which was still shaking vigorously. The Ground-type soon realised that it (or more specifically it's trainer) had made a mistake, but not before being quite deep underground. The Pokémon thought that it would be buried underground (odd for a Ground-type who kept most of his body underground) but he was completely wrong. Instead of being buried, it was thrown straight towards the sky whilst taking massive amounts of damage.

Ash just snickered at the grunt's mistake which had cost him the match, "You do know that using **Earthquake** after **Dig** or whilst the **Earthquake** is still going on causes the user if the **Dig** to receive double damage, right?"

The grunt returned his Diglett quite hastily before muttering something about brats and leaving with the classic 'This isn't the last you'll see of me!'

With the grunt gone (and not any more grunts from the looks of it,) Bagon was about to be returned back to his Pokéball when Leaf asked where Bagon was from causing Ash to start telling her about where Bagon have been found, "Despite being a pseudo-legendary, Bagon aren't that rare since they appear in loads of places such as the Hoenn Region, the Sinnoh Region, the Unova Region, the Kalos Region and the Alola Region. Of course, there are most likely many other places that they can be found but these are the places that we know about. The most famous Bagon hotspot is definitely Meteor Falls in the Hoenn Region due to the fact that an entire colony of Bagon were found deep in a cave behind the waterfall that tourists would come to admire. The colony were found pretty recently and whilst there are many of the rare pseudo-legendary in that area, most of the group are still there since the cave is pretty hard to access and it's behind a waterfall that crashes down constantly."

Leaf looked at Ash with a bewildered look, "You could've just said 'Bagon usually don't appear in either Kanto or Johto' but that was good too."

Yellow quickly picked up Bagon and started feeding the berries she'd picked earlier to Bagon. The healer-in-training then asked for Ash and Leaf to send out all of their Pokémon so that she could heal them all with the berries and psychic powers. The two had their Pokémon healed by Yellow before they got back onto the path, looking for either the exit or a Pokémon that they were interested in adding to their team.

* * *

"Holy shit, that was a huge Pidgeotto!" Leaf said in shock. As they were on the path, they saw a huge bird fly across the path and both were sure that it was strong from its sheer size and bulk.

"I think this is gonna be my first catch whilst I'm on my journey, " Ash replied as he adjusted his baseball hat and started running after the bird with the two girls trailing behind.

"Ash! I don't think you should go after that Pidgeotto. I'm sure I remember it from somewhere and, if it is the one I'm thinking about, we should probably cease are search immediately!" Yellow called out to Ash, who was already preparing himself for his first capture.

"I'm not giving up Yellow! I'm catching that Pidgeotto, it's too good of an opportunity to give up!" Ash said back, the size of the Pidgeotto and the speed at which it was flying must be showing how strong it was, "I want it to join my team, and I'm not giving up until that happens!"

"But Ash! It has to be the Pidgeotto that was terrorizing the other Pokémon. It's too aggressive and strong for you to successfully make catch it. Just give up, we can catch another Pidgeotto if you want one so bad!" Yellow said, this time taking some of Ash's attention off of the strong Flying-type they had seen.

Leaf, deciding that she should have a go at catching it as well, also shouted, "Yeah Ash, give up and let me catch it. I'll have two powerful Flying-types and a friend for Spearow, I'm not giving this up!"

"Guess we'll have to settle this quickly, " Ash said, balling his hands into a first, "Rock, Paper, Scissors, go!"

Whilst Ash had been shaking his fist, Leaf had sprinted ahead of him, making it clear that whoever was able to get to the Pidgeotto first would be able to catch the Pokémon that had gained their interest. Ash, not being a slow runner from all of the races with Riolu, sprinted towards the brunette who had made a small distance between them.

"You'll never catch me, Ash!" Leaf said, turning around to stick her tongue out, "I doubt you're fast enough to... Even... C'mon, why does this have to happen now!"

Ash laughed as he passed his friends, sticking his tongue out as he saw Leaf had fallen into a shallow hole. He kept on running, knowing that Leaf could easily climb out of it. Ash took advantage of Leaf's sudden stop and was able to get a strong lead before Leaf had finally climbed out of the whole with a look on her face that screamed 'You're a dead man walking.''

Yellow was running alongside Leaf since Ash was too fast for her to keep up with him and she didn't want to be running by herself in case they all got separated. She could just see the Pidgeotto in the distance, the bird descending and probably about to touch the ground. Wait, no, wasn't there a steep hill in a few metres? This was the part she knew the least about. There was nothing interesting in the West part of the forest which was where they were headed.

"What-" the two girls heard Ash say in front of them before hearing the sound of dry leaves and twigs crunch as Ash started rolling down the hill.

Yellow laughed slightly, "I guess there was a steep decline after all. Erm Yellow, I know a quick detour that we can take."

"What-" Leaf said, having ignored Ash's fall and rushing past Yellow. The brunette tripped whilst she was running down the hill and was somersaulting down the hill, slightly slower than Ash. She inwardly cursed as she realised that Ash was still ahead of her, she could take the pain of the sticks jabbing into her back but she would never let Ash best her.

Whilst Yellow was taking the detour (a less steep decline that would only take an extra minute) and Leaf was still rolling down the hill, Ash had picked himself up and sprinted again. He saw the bird he was after descending and sped up so that he could have a chance to capture. He could see Pikachu, who had fallen off of his shoulder during the roll, using **Quick Attack** to hop onto his shoulder.

Leaf seemed to expertly jump out of the roll, running much faster than she had before. She wouldn't let Ash get that Pidgeotto, who she could see was about to land around 150 metres away from Ash and about an extra ten from Leaf. Making a last-ditch effort to reach the Pokémon, she started hammering her feet on the ground and was closing the distance quickly.

"Pikachu, use **ThunderShock** to do some quick damage!" Ash called out, Pikachu was probably close enough to have a chance of damaging the bird, "Try and move the **ThunderShock** around so we do some chip-damage as a minimum."

Leaf was about to call out Bulbasaur but quickly realised that the Grass starter wasn't fast enough to keep up with her. Deciding that she would call Bulbasaur out once she was close to Pidgeotto, she kept on running. She took a quick glance behind her, Yellow was at least seventy metres behind her. Leaf sighed, knowing that Ash was first and was, most likely, going to catch that Pokémon before she would. The girl slowed down to a slow jog and kept at that speed until Yellow was able to catch up.

"Pikachu, **Quick Attack** to close in on Pidgeotto! Use an **Electro Ball** to do some extra damage. Pidgeotto should be retaliating soon. I want you to keep your eyes on him whilst you close in."

Pikachu, after using **ThunderShock** , became a yellow blur, darting straight down the path whilst the Pidgeotto he was targetting turned to see their attacker.

Pikachu kept on runnning and, like Ash had told him to, kept his eyes on the Pidgeotto. He was only 30 metres away when Pidgeotto started pursuing him with a white tint. He could tell that Pidgeotto wasn't as fast as him and tried to outrun his pursuer.

As Ash was getting closer to Pikachu, he noticed that the Pidgeotto was retaliating with a **Quick Attack**. Ash grinned, knowing that this Pidgeotto had a fighting spirit which was beneficial for a trainer.

"Pikachu, change of plan. I want you to keep on running, try and get into the trees and evade that Pidgeotto. I don't want you to hide too far away from the main path. **Electro Ball** to distract it and then **Quick Attack** away, you'll need a lead to begin this game of hide-and-seek!

Pikachu nodded, he jumped in the middle of his sprint and twisted in the air. Once he had flung the ball of electricity at Pidgeotto, Pikachu twisted in the air and pounced into a shaded area behind around the path. Pikachu climbed up a tree, hiding in the leaves that were covering the top of the tree. He poked his head out of the leaves before quickly pulling it back in. Pidgeotto was close to the tree he was hiding in so he would have to move.

Ash could tell that Pidgeotto would find Pikachu in around a minute, "If Pidgeotto is about to find you, use **ThunderShock** and **Electro Ball** , then find another place to hide!"

Pikachu nodded, despite knowing that Ash couldn't see him, and climbed up his tree. Once he was above the Flying-type, Pikachu released a stream of electricity at Pidgeotto, who was taking more damage every minute.

Pikachu did a backflip, twisting whilst upside down, and then threw his **Electro Ball** at Pidgeotto. He rolled as he landed, quickly running to another tree which was both much larger and had a thicker bush of leaves surrounding it. Once he climbed to the point that was covered the best, the yellow mouse came up with an idea. The Electric-type used **Iron Tail** on one of the branches that crossed over into the tree he was hiding in.

Ash smiled as he saw a branch being thrown out of one of the trees. The branch bounced off of another tree before tapping Pidgeotto's side. He knew that Pikachu had thrown the stick and, with surprising accuracy, was able to make the stick seem as if it was thrown from another tree.

Pidgeotto fell for Pikachu's trick, inspecing one of the trees away from Pikachu. It flew in a loop-de-loop, becoming enveloped by a white glow. It then started flying through the tree, going in and out of the tree to find where Pikachu was.

Said yellow mouse was snickering before freezing and charging up another **ThunderShock**. When he was snickering, he made enough noise for Pidgeotto to hear him. Pikachu sighed, hiding wasn't as good of an idea as he thought it was. Pikachu did a back flip out of the tree (trying to look as cool as possible) before shocking the bird.

Ash understood that evading Pidgeotto wasn't as effective as he thought it would be, "If we can't hide from Pidgeotto, we'll have to attack head on. Pidgeotto outperforms you in every stat except speed, use your speed to do a flurry of attacks. Let's start off with a **Quick Attack** followed up with an **Iron Tail**!"

Pikachu covered himself in a white glow before circling Pidgeotto, waiting for an opening. Pidgeotto stayed in its place, flapping its wings and hovering. They were both waiting for the other to attack. Pikachu, not being the most patient, flipped and hit his tail on the ground to gain some height. Pikachu gave his tail a metallic sheen before swinging it down with momentum and force.

Pidgeot was about to swerve out of the way but was unprepared for the speed Pikachu attacked her with. She was also unprepared for when Pikachu landed ontop of her wings, almost crashing due to the unexpected extra weight.

" **ThunderShock**!" Ash shouted, Pikachu had the advantage with him being able to attack Pidgeotto but not vice versa and that was an advantage Ash would utilise, "Focus all the electricity at Pidgeotto and prepare for a bumpy ride!"

And a bumpy ride it was, Pikachu's extra weight and the pain of constant electricity flowing into the bird's body caused the flight to be less than calm. The cream-coloured bird was ascending steeply, trying to shake Pikachu off but to no avail. Pikachu hung on for dear life, trying to keep the **ThunderShock** going as he tried not to fall to the fround and end up with more than pain in the morning.

" **Electro Ball**! Let's get the extra damage! We need some more damage before I throw a Pokéball.

Pikachu charged up another ball of electricity at the tip of his tail before flipping his body around, throwing the Electro Ball... straight into Pidgeotto's head.

Pikachu screamed as he fell with Pidgeotto, the ground and some unbearable pain awaiting them both.

Ash was little shocked at how quickly that battle ended, "Pikachu, try and slow your fall! Pidgeotto should start flying before you hit the ground. Try and position yourself so that you land on them."

Pikachu had slowed his fall a considerable amount, giving Pidgeotto a light shock to wake the bird up. Pidgeotto woke up with a jolt (pun intended,) realising that she was about to fall to quite a few broken bones. She looked up to see where the shock had come from and, seeing that it was Pikachu, slowed herself so that the yellow rodent could land.

Pikachu smiled as he landed, "(Thanks for not letting me break all my bones!)"

Pidgeotto chirped in acknowledgement, trying to keep its descent stable from the extra weight of Pikachu. The Flying-type, whilst shaky, was able to land safely and without any damage, on either her or the Electric-type she was carrying.

Once Pikachu had hopped off, Pidgeotto became airborne again. Pikachu had a wide grin as he realised the battle was still going to go on. The two gave the other one last look before hopping away from eachother and putting ten metres between them.

"So the battle is still going to continue, huh. Alright then, I want you to use **ThunderShock** in short bursts. Follow it up with a point-blank **Electro Ball**."

Pikachu released another stream of electricity although the attack was much shorter and was highly concentrated. The Pokémon then charged an **Electro Ball** at the tip of his tail. The ball of electricity was flung less than a metre from Pidgeotto with the attack hitting its mark (to no one's surprise) and with Pikachu landing on both feet.

"Pidgeotto is still attacking!" Ash called out, seeing that Pidgeotto did a loop-de-loop and would try and make this battle as close-range as possible.

Pidgeotto dove down towards Pikachu like a bird swooping down to catch its prey. Pikachu, who was almost up, threw a **ThunderShock** which missed entirely. Pidgeotto started to bank to the left before spinning like a drill with it's wings having a mettalic sheen.

Pikachu, surprised by the **Steel Wing** , was easily hit by the attack and recieved quite a lot of damage. Pikachu then turned his head to Ash, sure that his trainer would have a strategy to beat **Iron Tail**.

"Alright, if Pidgeotto has **Steel Wing** , it must've come into contact with a TM. Alright, that means that Pidgeotto's possible current moves have expanded a lot. So Pikachu, I want you to focus these attacks on your tail. Let's go, **ThunderShock** , **Electro Ball** , **Iron Tail** and **Quick Attack**!"

Pikachu got on all fours with his tail pointing upwards. His cheeks sparked before a **ThunderShock** left his tail, barely missing Ash. He tried again and focused a **ThunderShock** to stay in his body. That succeeded, causing Pikachu to do an uppercut in the air out of victory. What he hadn't noticed was that Pidgeotto had been about to attack him when he did the uppercut, slamming his fist into Pidgeotto's face.

"I think you might've used a **Thunder Punch** , one of your egg moves... not what I expected but I'll take it. Pikachu, use **Iron Tail** and then focus the electricity like with **Thunder Punch**!"

Pikachu gave his tail a metallic sheen, indicating that he had used **Iron Tail** , before using **ThunderShock**. Electricity started zapping around him, burning the grass near him. Pikachu tried to focus the electricity into his tail and his tail had a very light yellow tint. Ash would've called it a success if the electricity and the yellow tint didn't fizz out after a few seconds. Pikachu quickly sidestepped, Pidgeotto had tried to attack him.

"We'll see what we can do with focusing electricity. Alright, let's use a **ThunderShock** and then an **Iron Tail**!" Ash called out knowing that Pikachu had been sitting like a duck whilst Pidgeotto had been trying to attack with **Quick Attack**.

Pidgeotto had been flying around, using **Quick Attack** to gain enough speed to do a lot of damage. The speed had allowed it to avoid the **ThunderShock** that Pikachu had used to attack him. Once the attack had dissipated, Pidgeotto swooped down struck Pikachu with the **Quick Attack**.

"Pikachu, steady yourself with an **Iron Tail**. Then, I want you to use **ThunderShock**. I think Pidgeotto will be going down in a few more attacks, let's take it down as soon as possible!"

Pikachu slammed his tail into the ground, stopping him unharmed. Pikachu's cheeks sparked as the mouse's body was covered by electricity which struck the air Pidgeotto had been flying in only half a second ago. Pikachu stopped that bolt and sent another, this time only a metre ahead of her. Pidgeotto passed through the **ThunderShock** , trembling in the air as he passed. Ash Ash had said before, the bird would be going down in a few attacks.

The bird, making a last-ditch effort to knock out Pikachu, ascended steeply. Pikachu, smirking with the grin of someone who knew victory was coming there way, sent another **ThunderShock** that passed just under Pidgeotto. The Electric-type aimed a little higher, shooting another bolt of electricity at Pidgeotto was hit by the attacks and started descending, beak forward so that it could attack Pikachu.

"C'mon Pikachu, let's finish this! **ThunderShock** , let's go!"

Pikachu looked upwards, Pidgeotto would take around ten seconds to reach him. Pikachu's sparking cheeks seemed to glow as his entire body had gained a two-meter coat of electricity. The sparks started to focus on Pikachu's back, the sparks that flew across Pikachu's back were brighter and seemed to jump off of his back.

Even though Pidgeotto had been plummeting without any control for a few seconds, Pidgeotto was able to straighten itself and dive with a bright white glow. As she closed in, she spun in the air with her wings having a metallic sheen. The bird looked like a drill as it was about to go straight through her opponent.

She was close, only two seconds away when she felt a sharp pain flow through her body. She fell to the ground, crumbling in a heap. Pikachu sighed, seeing that his attack had hit its mark. He lied down with a grin, making a light squeal as he relaxed on the ground.

Ash walked up to the two Pokémon with a Pokéball in his right hand. After giving Pikachu a scratch on the cheeks (returned by a squeal of approval,) Ash lightly tapped the Pokéball on Pidgeotto's head, sending the Pokémon into a place where it could rest. Ash placed Pikachu on his shoulder whilst giving a sigh of satisfaction, he had caught his first Pokémon on his journey.

* * *

 **So Yellow is joining Ash and Leaf on their quest through Kanto. Ash has caught his first Pokémon (after Leaf has already caught three counting Primape.)**

 **But anyway thanks for reading and, in the next chapter, we should be in Pewter City, ready to get their first Gym Badge. C'ya guys!**


	5. Pewter City Gym pt 1

**Disclaimer: During my little break, I didn't gain the rights to Pokémon since Nintendo do a way better job than I ever could.**

Sorry for the mini hiatus. I can only blame it on video games and my sudden need to lose weight. I've gotten into a few games that just filled me with nostalgia so I played them again for fun, sorry.

But anyway, the summer holidays are here and I'm ready to make up for the chapters that didn't come out on time.

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic_ _speech_ ' = Telepathy

* * *

Stepping out of the last tree's shadow, Ash sighed as the darkness of the forest was replaced by sunlight.

Yellow shielded her eyes as the light beamed onto her eyes, "Ow! Why is it so bright? The forest's darkness is so much better than this!"

Leaf snorted, "You won't be saying that when we're deep into a cave, probably getting mauled by Golbats!"

Pikachu rolled off of Ash's shoulder as they stopped, it had been a week since Pidgeotto had joined the team and nothing eventful had happened since. Or at least, he didn't think anything they saw was eventful but, then again, he did sleep a lot so that he was fully rested for his gym battle.

Pikachu yawned and released some electricity that had been building up whilst he slept. He rolled his shoulder as he heard the shouts (and laughing) of his usual targets: Ash, Leaf and Yellow.

Leaf gave Pikachu a smirk, "Pikachu, I've noticed that you have a strange addiction to ketchup. Zap me again and you're going to go cold turkey!"

Pikachu replied with an equally smug smirk, "(Ash is the one who holds all my ketchup, he'd never betray me... What, n-no, why aren't you stopping her Ash!"

"Look Pikachu, I would stop her if I could," Ash said, picking the mouse up, "I'll get you some more if you OHKO the gym leader's Pokémon!"

Leaf frowned as she finally pulled out a bottle of ketchup, "Ashy, stop neutralising my threats. You're supposed to be on my side!'

Yellow interjected, being the mediator of most disputes, "Well, Pikachu would need to knock out one of the gym leader's rock types with only one hit, that is pretty unlikely... And anyway, why are we standing less than hundred metres from the city entrance? Aren't you going to heal your Pokémon?"

Chuchu assisted Yellow by giving Pikachu a look that left no room for objection. Sighing, the male mouse crawled up Ash's shoulder as they neared the city entrance, ignoring the old man trying to sell them a rock.

* * *

"So, do you guys want to see the museum?" Ash asked as they walked around the city. With their Pokémon healed, they all had time to kill and everyone was disagreeing on what to spend time on.

"Don't be so boring, Ashy! If I have a short life, I want to have enjoyed everything. If I were to die within the next week and I spent some of my time on this planet in a museum, I will personally haunt you." Leaf said, flicking Ash on the forehead, "Why don't we check out route 3? Maybe add some more training or scout for some more Pokémon."

Yellow sighed, "But I want to see why that homeless man was trying to sell a rock! I mean, there has to be something in there for it to be worth 100'000."

Leaf spat out the lemonade she got from a vending machine, "He sold it for 100'000, like a one followed by five zeroes? You have to be kidding me, Yellow. This guy must be an amateur at scamming people. Probably trying to earn some quick cash."

"You have to have faith in him, c'mon. He probably has something rare in it, what if there's a box of rare candy in there?" Yellow said before quickly being muffled by Leaf.

"Yellow, you never say if there is a rare candy anywhere. If you say it out loud, someone else is bound to snatch it and put their grimy hands on them," Leaf said, suddenly becoming paranoid on whether someone was listening in on them, "C'mon Ash, let's see what that rock scammer wanted."

"Heh, I'll just go to the museum. I've heard that they've imported a Skull Fossil from Sinnoh and a Jaw Fossil from Kalos. I want to inspect them, so you guys enjoy your little hunting!" Ash said, turning around and walking to the Pewter Museum.

"Well then, don't ask us if we find anything interesting, Ashy!" Leaf said, sticking her tongue out before running towards the old man with the rock.

* * *

"This Tyrunt must've been in a lot of fights," Ash noted to himself, the cracked teeth and light fractures could've come from mishandling the fossil but it was more likely that the bones were found damaged.

Ash snapped a few photos of the jaw with his Pokénav, inspecting the photo and comparing it to the Pokédex's image of Tyrunt. He noticed a couple of things like the chin of the Pokémon being much sharper on the fossil, the skeleton having little parts that jutted up along the femur which were similar to the pads on the thighs of Tyrunt among other things.

Ash walked over to another fossil after taking a few more photos of the skeleton. He decided to check the Aerodactyl fossil along with the Old Amber they had used to revive the first Aerodactyl.

As he walked over, his shoulders bumped into someone. Ash, not wanting to cause any trouble, quickly turned around to apologise only to stop himself midway as he saw a familiar smirk.

"Hey there Ashy-boy, took you a while to get to Pewter City didn't it?" Gary said, with an expression of relief.

Ash barely held in a laugh as he realised why Gary was relieved to see him, "Wait... don't tell me you've been waiting for me? Ha!"

"What, n-no. I was just in the Pewter Museum and checking these fossils," Gary said with a nervous smile, "I wasn't waiting for you at all."

Ash stopped laughing and simply gave a knowing stare, "So, why were you waiting for me? Oh, I know... Are you still annoyed over our match on Route 22?"

"No, we can have a battle right now if you want me to prove it to you! Go, Squirtle!"

"You realise we're in a museum, right? We should at least go outside if we're going to battle."

"Fine then, I'll even let you choose the place since I'll mop the floor with you!"

"Fine by me."

* * *

"Okay Yellow, number one rule for a scammer is to trick your customers into thinking they are in control and that they are in control of the deal. Thankfully, I'm pretty good at conning and bargaining with people so I should be able to get the rock for a lower price and should spot if the guy is a scammer," Leaf said as they watched the stone-selling man from a fair distance.

"Shouldn't we just buy the rock?" Yellow said, looking at the rock with sharp eyes, "I have a gut feeling that something is in there."

"Yeah, but what is there is worth 100'000?" Leaf said, trying to think of anything that could reasonably be in the rock, "Actually, could be a golden nugget or a star piece."

"Shouldn't we try and get one, Leaf?"

"No, you can only sell a nugget for about 5'000 and a star piece for about 6'000. This guy is either selling nuggets and making a shit ton of money or there's something (probably nothing) in that rock."

"Didn't Ash go to the museum to see a fossil, couldn't there be a fossil in the rock?"

"You're a fucking genius, Yellow!" Leaf said, snapping her fingers as she thought deeper into Yellow's suggestion, "Yeah, it could work, Pewter city and Mount Moon tend to contain a lot of fossils. Let's get that rock!"

"Are we actually going to buy the rock?" Yellow asked, confused by Leaf's willingness to possibly (read: most likely) waste money on a rock, "And you've already gone to the old guy..."

* * *

"Alright, we can do our match here, Ashy-boy," Gary said to Ash's relief.

"Heh, what happened to your 'I'll even let you choose the place since I'll mop the floor with you.' Gonna guess that you won't mop the floor with me anytime soon," Ash said with a light chuckle.

"Hah, let's see if you really can beat me. Pidgeotto, rip him to shreds!"

"So your Pidgey evolved into a Pidgeotto. I'm impressed! Okay, go-"

"You can't use Pikachu, Ash! None of the other trainers from Pallet Town had used an electric-type so neither can you!"

Ash just gave Gary an incredulous look that clearly stated how cheap Gary was being but, due to not being bothered to argue, Ash pulled a Pokéball off his belt, "Fine, go Pidgeotto!"

"Heh, my Pidgeotto is way better than yours-"

"Gary, just shut up and battle. I went to the museum to look at the new fossils, not to listen to your undeserved bragging. Pidgeotto, **Quick** **Attack** , and twirl into a **Steel** **Wing**!"

"Pidgeotto, fight against it with **Quick** **Attack** and **Wing** **Attack**!"

The two birds met in a monotone clash, one bird covered in a white light and the other in a metallic sheen. Ash's Pidgeotto overpowered Gary's and whizzed past with Gary's Pidgeotto falling in the air.

Gary winced, his Pidgeotto had landed with a hard thud that quickly put across that said Pidgeotto didn't land without a scratch, "Okay, use **Quick Attack** to inflict chip damage!"

"Dodge with **Quick Attack**!"

Ash's Pidgeotto sped in a straight line before banking to the left about a metre before she would've made contact with her opponent. Pidgeotto then started flying upwards and did a u-turn to watch where Gary's Pidgeotto was.

Said Pidgeotto had also done a u-turn so that he could have another attempt at attacking. Once they had found where Ash's Pidgeotto was hovering at, they sped into another blur only to miss again from the same manoeuvre.

"Alright Pidgeotto, use **Gust** to slam them into something!" Gary called out, now seeing that his Pidgeotto wasn't going to be making any contact with his opponent.

"Ascend into the air before you use **Steel Wing** and **Quick Attack** whilst spinning in the air!" Ash decided, trying to make Pidgeotto be as aerodynamic as possible.

When the strong wind came, Ash's Pidgeotto had already become a spinning bullet, metallic and aerodynamic. And, like a spinning bullet, it cut straight through the air and struck Gary's Pidgeotto, who was too focused on maintaining the wind to even attempt dodging.

"Pidgeotto, finish this with a **Peck**!" Ash said it was time for Gary's next Pokémon to come out.

Once Ash's Pidgeotto quickly jabbed their opponent with Peck, she hopped off and flew back to Ash's side with Gary recalling his Pokémon. Ash simply smirked at Gary's look of utter disbelief, the other 30 or so trainers that left from Pallet Town must be completely new to battling. They probably didn't have that battle simulator that let you use an overpowered Salamence to wreak havoc on your opponents, Ash made a mental note to try that simulator again so he could destroy Metagross for the nth time.

"Alright then, go Squirtle!" Gary called out, conscious of the fact that this was going to be the match that had ended his win streak, "Start off with **Water Gun**!"

"You know the drill, Pidgeotto!"

Squirtle released a powerful stream of water, which was more powerful than he remembered it being on Route 22. Pidgeotto flapped her wings hard and took off, letting the **Water Gun** douse the ground she had been standing on. Whilst Pidgeotto was flying in an unpredictable manner, a jet of water was following her close behind.

"If Squirtle wants to try and hit you with a **Water Gun** , we're just gonna have to move faster! Pidgeotto, use **Quick Attack** to ascend as high as you can!"

"Keep the jet going, Squirtle!"

Squirtle kept the stream of water going, despite knowing that it was very unlikely he would hit Pidgeotto. Due to gravity, his jet of water seemed to stop getting as close as it had been and started arcing downwards. Pidgeot kept ascending, getting higher and higher until she was about 60 metres above the ground. She was hovering above the water and waited for Ash to issue her next attack.

"Now, I want you to rise a little. If we do this right, we can end this all in one attack!" Ash called out before taking a quick glance at Squirtle, who was slightly frustrated but still confident in winning, "Use **Quick Attack** and do a loop-de-loop to gain momentum before swooping down. Then spin with **Steel Wing** and cut through the air."

Pidgeotto did a large loop-de-loop which gave the bird some momentum before the avian shot to the ground leaving only a few seconds before he would reach the ground. At around 50 metres of altitude, Pidgeotto started spinning with his body gaining a metallic sheen. With Pidgeotto falling faster due to the spinning, Pidgeotto's beak was covered with a white light as she reached 25 metres from the ground.

"Pidgeotto, pull up just before you hit Squirtle!" Ash shouted, with Pidgeotto around 15 metres away from the ground. The Normal-Flying type pulled up only a hair away from Squirtle, her metal wings slamming into Squirtle and causing a significant amount of damage.

"Squirtle, get up and use **Water Gun**!" Gary called out, shocked that his Squirtle was about to be taken down so easily. Maybe Squirtle could still take Pidgeotto down but Ash still had other Pokémon to use. No, he could at least knock out Pidgeotto, he had to at least knock one Pokémon out.

"Now, use all that speed to loop-de-loop and use Peck!" Ash called out, ready to end the battle.

Gary looked on in sheer confusion as Pidgeotto pulled up harder and into a loop. As Pidgeotto crashed into Squirtle with all of the speed and momentum she has gained, Gary wondered on how he had lost so badly to Ash. Was Ash actually a good trainer or we're all those other trainers really weak. He hoped it was the latter as Ash returned Pidgeotto to his Pokéball and took the prize money, heading back to the museum.

* * *

"Alright Bulbasaur, we need to shatter this rock ASAP!" Leaf said asked whilst the large rock that they had bought which was sitting on a wheelbarrow that came with it.

Leaf smiled as she walked back to Yellow, "I was able to lower the price to only 10'000. And this is why knowing how to con someone is a life skill. Now, Bulbasaur, keep chipping at that rock until we find our treasure!"

"(This is a rock, there is literally nothing in this rock. You wasted your money, but let's see what happens!)" Bulbasaur said, he was sure that the rock was either hollow or just stone but he still pulled out his vine and started slamming them into the rock.

After a few hits, the vines started chipping at the rock. It was slow and ineffective but it would, hopefully, leave whatever was in there (if there was anything in there) unharmed. The method was working, evident from the six-centimetre hole that was chipped away by the vines, but it was slower than they thought. So slow that it would probably take a few hours to completely chip through the rock.

Leaf sighed, knowing that they would have to find a new way to find what was in the rock, "What are we gonna do now? Yellow, do you have any ideas? You know, if I was able to keep that Primeape, I'd have been able to break the rock by now!"

"Why don't you have a Primeape? You've told me that you have caught one but I've never seen you use it," Yellow asked, genuinely curious about Leaf's Primeape.

"I caught one in Viridian City because it was annoying the Pokémon Centre and I'm the hero of the world and... ah, fuck it. I just wanted the money, is wanting money really that bad?" Leaf asked, shaking her fist at the sky.

"Doesn't Ash's Pikachu know **Iron Tail**?" Yellow said, trying to find a way so that they didn't waste their money on something that was literally everywhere, "Actually, couldn't Ash have used Riolu to break the rock or Pidgeotto to use **Steel Wing** the rock or something?"

"Yeah, but if I just wanted to break the rock I would've used Nidoran's **Double Kick** to break the rock. I want to extract the thing that's inside the rock... if there is something in there," Leaf said, aware that she had wasted time and money but to hell with logical reasoning.

"But... you said that if you kept Primeape, you'd have been able to break the rock. You said it as if having Primeape break the rock would be an advantage. So do you want to break the rock or not?"

"You know what, Yellow. I'm gonna waste money that was, pretty much, already wasted. Nidoran, break it with **Double Kick**!" Leaf said, not bothered to waste any more time on the rock, "Well, there goes my shit load of Rare Candy!"

"(You got scammed hard! I'm gonna bet a million Pokédollars that there is nothing in that rock!)" Nidoran said, before slamming his two legs into the rock. After his foot was shoved into the rock for about two seconds, the entire thing crumbled leaving nothing but grey shards on the ground. Nidoran smiled as he saw nothing but grey on the ground, he knew there was nothing in that rock!

Leaf started sweeping the fragments of rock away, trying to see if there actually was anything in there. She frantically brushed, hoping that she didn't just waste 10'000. There had to be at least something in there, she did not just get scammed, that would ruin her reputation as a professional scammer big time.

"I see something orange in there," Yellow said, being a trainer costs and they had to at least try to make sure they could salvage whatever they could, "Sweep some of the rocks on the right."

Leaf brushed where Yellow had told her to, feeling something smooth among the sharp rocks. She delicately pulled it out and held it directly in front of her eye, the sun beaming onto the orb giving it a soft orange glow. Leaf spotted an intact claw and a small insect that looked similar to Yanma in the amber, this would sell for a high price. Maybe they didn't waste all of their money

"W-what... There was actually something in the rock?" Yellow said, now seeing the entire orb in between Leaf's index finger and thumb, "Oh, it's just a piece of amber. They aren't that rare, I sold those to random trainers who really wanted them for a few hundred pokédollars each. I guess we really did lose all of our money..."

Leaf ignored Yellow and pulled out her Pokénav, searching for possible values for the amber, "So, this is a piece of amber with remnants of ancient insects and some other shit. Based soley on the Yanma ancestor, we can sell it for a crap ton of money, like over 100'000. If we find out what the claw is from we will have made a big profit."

Yellow laughed, scratching Chuchu's ear, "If we can make 100'000 from that small piece, we could make a million from the Swarm Stone. Maybe even two million from all the other ones that I see. Guess that was why people paid me for them, I must've given people a big financial boost.

Leaf's eyes lit up as she realised how much money they could make, with the 100'000 they have now, they could buy over 65 revives. They could buy those overpriced potions that no one used because they were overshadowed by water and lemonade. Yeah, instead of buying those potions, she could use those vending machines and get like three hundred Psycho Sodas (otherwise known as their more boring name: Soda Pop.) Or they could get better equipment, maybe a better tent and some spelunking gear for when they reach Mt Moon. With the possible millions that Yellow said she had, they were set for life.

"Leaf, are you okay? You're giving me that look all those old guys would give me when they passed through the forest," Yellow said, an innocent look on her face.

Leaf froze and her face quickly twisted into one of disgust as she registered what Leaf was talking about, Yellow was too pure for those creeps, "Please don't say that, Yellow. Now I feel like bugs are crawling all over me, I was just thinking about all the things we could buy with the money. You mentioned a Swarm Stone, what was that?"

"Huh, the Swarm Stone is this huge piece if amber with an entire swarm of bugs frozen in it. The amber is about the size of the rock we bought, do you want to get it after your Gym Battle?"

"Yeah, anyway, we need to find Ash and tell him about our findings," Leaf tapped a few icons on her Pokénav before tapping the Match Call feature and tapping Ash's number, "Hey Ash, we found something good in the rock. I told you there was something in there... I wasn't against getting the rock. You know what, you aren't getting any of the money, Ashy! Not until you play nice!"

Yellow just sat silently, listening to the two argue over the Pokénav, at least it was amusing. Being their healer was probably going to be some fun.

* * *

"Which one of us will go first?" Ash asked once the automatic door to the gym slid open. It was the day after they had acquired the amber from the rock and the three had done everything they wanted to do in Pewter City.

"You do it," Leaf said, before seeing Ash's sceptical face and adding, "What? I need to see how you beat him so I can do a thousand times better than you! You know I'm always after number one, Ashy!"

"You're gonna have to lower your hopes since you'll be stuck at number two!"

"Ashy, Ashy, Ashy... Being my best friend, you should know how I manipulate and overtake. I may not be as good as you, yet, but I'm a whole lot smarter!"

"You're pretty good entertainment, you've attracted a small audience," Yellow piped in, turning her head towards the group of children that we're watching them, "Bickering like a buried couple, was that how it went? That wouldn't make a lot of sense... Oh, bickering like a married couple? Yeah, it was probably that."

"Shut up, Yellow!" Leaf said with a light but noticeable blush on her on her face.

"N-no, that w-would be weird since Leaf's one of my best friends," Ash said with a poor attempt at a poker face and a considerably darker blush.

"I see why you guys find it so entertaining," a voice said with a light chuckle, "I was wondering where you went, watching a possible challenger. I guess I won't be able to do my usual introduction, my name's Brock and I'm the leader of the Pewter City Gym. Will you three be challenging me?"

Yellow, seeing that Ash and Leaf probably didn't hear Brock, answered, "These two lovebirds are, I'm just enjoying the ride."

"F-" Leaf quickly stopped herself seeing that their audience was mainly under the age of 8, "F-funny, Yellow. Really funny!"

"Erm, so Brock... Can we do the gym battle?" Ash said, trying to get back to the actual reason they came here.

"Come this way, challenger. Get ready for a battle with my rock-hard Pokémon!"

* * *

"This is a three-on-three battle between Brock, the Gym Leader of the Pewter City, and the challenger..." the referee waited fr Ash to state his name.

"Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town."

"And the challenger, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town, begin."

"Alright, let's do this Riolu!" Ash said throwing Riolu's Pokéball.

Brock inspected Riolu, looking at the gleam of his fur and the expressions on his face, "That isn't a new Pokémon, is it?"

Ash raised an eyebrow at this, "What do you mean?"

"That Riolu doesn't look like it has been caught recently. You've had that Pokémon for a long time, haven't you? It's clear from the trust in Riolu's eyes that you two have been together for quite a while, right?"

"Yes, we've been together for a few years," Ash said, wondering where this would be going.

"As a gym leader, I'm meant to test a trainer and push their trust with their Pokémon even further. Since a lot of Pokémon trainers have battled me for their first gym badge, I assumed that you were a new trainer as well. It's clear that you aren't a new or that you aren't new to training and caring for Pokémon. Thus, I must give you a harder challenge. Go, Graveler!"

"Alright Riolu, if we have a harder challenge, let's try even harder. Start off with an **Agility** and **Quick Attack** combo, we need to get faster if we want to dodge most of the attacks!"

"Graveler, **Rollout**! Chase Riolu until he slips up!"

Riolu was a white blur when Graveler had started **Rollout**. Riolu was already on his first speed buff which made the fact that Graveler had already caught up even more shocking. Riolu was only a metre from Graveler when the second buff came into effect and gave the Fighting-type a slightly larger lead.

"Riolu, when Graveler uses **Rollout** , it trades vertical movement for a heightened speed in horizontal. So we need to get higher ground, jump onto a boulder before hopping off of it and onto one of the spikes!" Ash said, seeing if there was any way for Graveler to hit Riolu once he was on the spike. Ash quickly spotted a ramp close to spike and made some quick calculations. From the speed that Graveler was rolling at, if he were to use the ramp he would overshoot by quite a bit. Maybe he should tell Riolu to move somewhere else, yeah that would work.

"Graveler, take the ramp and uncurl yourself. Then use **Rock Smash** , we need to keep Riolu on ground level!"

Ash rethought his plan, it was definitely too late to try and change spike. If it was too late to dodge, they had to defend or attack. Riolu couldn't block an attack from Graveler so attacking was his only viable option. If Graveler uncurls, he would just barely scrape Riolu which would inflict some damage due to all the momentum. If Riolu ducked, then only the **Rock Smash** would inflict damage. If Riolu countered that with a **Sky Uppercut** , which with Same Type Attack Bonus and type effectiveness, they could get out of this unharmed.

"Riolu, duck and use Sky Uppercut. Then get on a different spike with Agility and Quick Attack."

"Graveler, use **Defence Curl** to block!"

Riolu crouched, paw balled into a fist and ready to be slammed with a lot of power backing it up. He slammed it with devastating results, sending Graveler rocketing up for a second before the rock-ground type arced down onto the ground. Riolu hopped off the spike and sprinted to another, leaping onto another spike by the time Graveler had got up and was ready to attack again

"Graveler, we need to knock down those spikes. Use **Rock Smash** to take down each one. Start with the spike furthest from Riolu!"

"Alright Riolu, I want you to just use **Agility** between the two spikes close to you. Once Graveler has taken down each spike, we need to make sure that you can outspeed Graveler's **Rollout** with a larger lead!"

As each spike collapsed and fell, Riolu did quick jumps from one spike to the other, gradually getting faster as he did the short hops. Ash guessed that Riolu was on his fourth speed buff when there was only two spikes left: the two that Riolu was hopping off of.

"Alright Riolu, **Rain Dance**! Once it's raining, it'll be harder for Graveler to use **Rollout**. Once we make it harder for Graveler to move, we can immobilise it with **Force Palm**!" Ash said. If all goes well, Graveler would be easy to take down. What was the next Pokémon going to be? What other Rock-type Pokémon could be used on a new-ish trainer. Maybe there was another Graveler? He hoped it wasn't one of the fossil Pokémon that he saw in the museum. They had a prototype reviving machine in Pewter City, didn't they?

"Graveler, use **Rock Polish**!" Brock called out, causing Ash's eyes to widen, "Mix it in with **Defense Curl**!"

Ash inwardly cringed, how could he forget that Brock could raise his own Pokémon's stats. If **Rain Dance** doesn't hinder Graveler's speed and movement, then they had pretty much wasted their time. If Riolu paralyses Graveler, then his speed is cut in half and there is a chance that Graveler will be unable to move. If **Rain Dance** does nothing, he can negate it with **Sunny Day**.

"Riolu, **Agility** into repeated **Force Palms**!"

"Graveler, focus on **Defense Curl** over **Rock Polish**!"

Riolu sped up considerably, now on five speed buffs. Riolu started slamming his fists onto Graveler's curled body. He kept on slamming it, waiting for paralysis to be inflicted. It was a 30% chance, wasn't it? After a couple hits, Graveler started glowing a faint red, meaning that Riolu's Force Palm would do less damage but the odds that Graveler would get paralysed was left unchanged.

"C'mon Riolu, we need that paralysis!"

Ash held in a smile as he realised that both Pokémon had maxed their speed buffs. Without paralysis, his Pokémon was going to be knocked out before he could get onto Brock's second Pokémon. This battle wasn't as easy as he thought it would be.

"Riolu, stop using **Agility**! Put all your effort into the **Force Palm**! Throw in a few **Sky Uppercuts** , we won't be giving nearly as much damage once Graveler has fully stacked his defence!"

It took a minute before Ash spotted what he had been looking for, a spark crossing over Graveler's body. Graveler was going to unable to dodge any attacks from Riolu, he was either too slow to dodge or unable to move in the first place.

"Riolu, use **Sunny Day**! Then use **Sky Uppercut** and **Blaze Kick**! We should be able to knock Graveler out."

"Graveler, use **Dynamic Punch** then **Rollout** to get some distance!"

"Dodge, Riolu!"

Riolu twisted the left, dodging where he expected the punch to land. When the punch was thrown, jolts ran across Graveler as the Rock-type froze. The fighting-type quickly got back to throwing punches and kicks, lowering the amount of health that was left.

"Graveler, you can do it! We need to use **Rollout** so we can get you out of there!"

"Riolu, backpedal and dodge with **Quick Attack**! With **Defense Curl** , we don't want to let Graveler get **Rollout** going!"

Graveler curled into a ball, using **Rollout** and aiming for Riolu However, thanks to all of Riolu's speed and Graveler's paralysis, Riolu dodged the attack. Irritated by this, Graveler kept on trying to use **Rollout** but continued to miss or freeze from the paralysis. Ash smiled at this, he knew the paralysis would win this for him.

"Heh, I guess we've lost this round, Graveler. With your paralysis and all of Riolu's speed buffs, we've definitely lost this round. You did good Graveler, you did really good. So, let's finish this with **Self-Destruct**!"

"Riolu, use **Endure**!"

Graveler flashed white, before releasing all the energy he had stored with an explosion. Ash smiled, seeing Brock's anticipation. He heard Riolu's voice in his head which meant that Riolu had been able to use **Endure**. Sure, Riolu only had 1 HP but at least he could do a bit more damage.

"Graveler has been knocked out, please send out your next Pokémon!" the referee said as the smoke cleared.

"Heh, I guess Riolu doesn't have a lot of HP from using Endure!" Brock said, returning Graveler to his Pokéball and unclipping another one from his belt, "Go, Rhyhorn!"

"Riolu, if an attack hits you, you're definitely going to faint. You're much faster than Rhyhorn, we should be able to take Rhyhorn down as long as we make sure we don't get hit. Circle Rhyhorn and use **Sky Uppercut** to Rhyhorn's side!"

"Rhyhorn, start off with **Scary Face**!"

Rhyhorn narrowed his eyes and tried to look as frightening as possible, he would have lowered Riolu's speed but Riolu had already slammed his first into Rhyhorn's side. This caused Rhyhorn's somewhat intimidating face to be replaced with an expression of pain.

"Alright Riolu, if Rhyhorn lowers our speed, we're done for! Riolu, I want you to incorporate **Quick Attack** into **Blaze Kick** , **Sky Uppercut** and **Force Palm**. We should aim for Rhyhorn's hind legs, then he'll be a sitting duck for us to take him down. "

"Rhyhorn, use **Bulldoze**!"

"Jump off the ground to avoid it!"

'Riolu had already taken down one of Brock's Pokémon and had done a little damage to another one. If Riolu faints, he's done more than enough for this battle to be winnable,' Ash thought to himself. Riolu may have narrowly dodged the **Bulldoze** but he was bound to get hit by one of the other attacks.

"Rhyhorn, use **Horn Attack**!"

"Twist in the air to dodge,"

Riolu tried to twist but was hit by the attack, causing him to collapse on the ground with swirls instead of eyes.

"Riolu is unable to battle, please send out your next Pokémon."

"You did good, Riolu," Ash said, returning the Pokémon to his Pokéball, "I choose you, Bagon!"

"Wow Ash, you have some rare Pokémon. Rhyhorn, use Fury Attack!"

"Riolu, backpedal whilst using **Dragon Breath**!"

Rhyhorn charged at Bagon with an elongated horn. Bagon did as Ash had told him to, doing quick hops to stay just out of reach. Purple and green flames came out of Bagon's mouth, the flames scorching Rhyhorn stone body.

"Rhyhorn, use **Horn Attack**!"

"Keep on using **Dragon Breath**!"

Rhyhorn stopped jabbing his horn at Bagon, taking longer to aim and putting more power into each attack. This caused Rhyhorn's horn to actually hit Bagon instead of continuously missing each attack. Bagon winced a little, Rhyhorn hit hard. Bagon fell on his back from the following attack, which struck at just the right place to throw him off.

"Bagon, use **Dragon Pulse**!"

"Rhyhorn, retaliate with **Fury Attack**!"

Bagon charged up a purple ball in his mouth, concentrating his energy into the ball. Rhyhorn spotted this and quickly jabbed his horn blindly into Bagon. Whilst the first two attacks hit Bagon's torso, the third struck the ball of energy instead of Bagon which caused all the energy to release itself as an explosion.

"Bagon, rocket up with **Dragon Pulse**!"

"Rhyhorn, **Stomp**!"

Bagon used the smoke as a distraction and rolled to the side before backflipping and rocketing upwards again. Rhyhorn tried to crush Bagon but kept missing, not knowing that Bagon had already rocketed upwards. The Rock-type kept slamming his foot into the ground, adding an increasing amount of power into each stomp. In fact, Rhyhorn slammed his foot so hard that it shook the ground with **Bulldoze**. Since the shaking was unexpected by Rhyhorn, the Pokémon lost balance and fell face flat on the floor.

"Bagon, use **Dragon Pulse** on Rhyhorn whilst he's lost his balance!"

"Rhyhorn, use **Smack Down**!"

Rhyhorn formed a golden orb in his mouth before shooting it straight at Bagon. The attack was aimed a little low to compensate for the fact that Bagon was falling at a steady rate. The orb cut through the air, smashing straight into Bagon, who had released his **Dragon Pulse** a second too late.

"Bagon, use **Dragon Pulse** again! We need to slow you down, that impact is going to hurt like hell if you don't."

"Rhyhorn, **Rock Tomb**!"

A yellow void seemed to appear above Bagon, a rock dropping from it and falling behind Bagon. The Dragon-type, seeing the larger shadow on the ground, twisted in the air with his **Dragon Pulse** still going. This caused the beam to strike the walls of the gym before being directed at the falling block of stone, causing smaller pieces of stone to fall to the ground.

"Pull yourself up, if we land on one of those smaller rocks we can stay out of reach for a little longer!"

Bagon straightened his body, making it parallel to the ground below him. He used **Dragon Pulse** to give him that extra push to safely get on one of the rocks. From his new perch, Bagon squatted and tried to cover himself from Rhyhorn.

"Use **Dragon Pulse** whilst we have the distance!"

Bagon unleashed another purple beam on Rhyhorn, his attack taking a few seconds to charge. Rhyhorn tried to outrun the beam but his low speed didn't allow him to outrun the beam, causing it to hit him and deal some damage.

Ash felt a little cheap for how be was winning this match. He simply outsped and paralysed Graveler and was fighting from a distance with Rhyhorn, a primarily physical attacker. He was using strategy and at least he wasn't bringing legendary Pokémon into these matches, that was a little too cheap for Ash. Speaking of which-

"Rhyhorn, **Tackle** as well as **Horn Attack**!"

'I shouldn't lose focus in a gym battle,' Ash thought to himself before calling out, "Bagon, use **Ember** at Rhyhorn's eyes!"

Bagon opened his mouth and small flames flew out, most of them spraying at Rhyhorn's face with the odd few getting close to the Rock-type's eyes. This caused the Spikes Pokémon to close his eyes, making sure a spark doesn't hit them.

"Let's use **Dragon Breath** again! We need to make sure that Rhyhorn keeps their eyes closed during this battle."

"Rhyhorn, use **Fury Attack** and keep on jabbing!"

"Duck and weave, Bagon!"

Purple flames spouted out of the Dragon-type's mouth, the flames being spewed onto Rhyhorn's face and keeping their eyes shut tight. The problem for Bagon was the fact that the purple flames blocked Rhyhorn's face and only gave Bagon a few seconds to react to each jab.

"Bagon, widen the distance and focus all your power into a **Dragon Pulse** ," Ash called out, **Dragon Pulse** was the attack that had been doing the most damage so it should be able to defeat Rhyhorn after a few hits, "Bagon, try and keep the attack completely focused on Rhyhorn. If we keep the attack going for long enough, Rhyhorn should faint."

"Rhyhorn, it's all or nothing! Let's start using **Take Down**!"

'If they're using Take Down as a last-ditch effort, Rhyhorn probably doesn't have Rock Head as their ability. That leaves Lightning Rod or Reckless. Lightning Rod wouldn't do much since Pikachu won't be using Electric-type attacks but if it's reckless, any recoil attacks (I.e Take Down) will have a 20% increase in base power. If Rhyhorn does have Reckless as its ability, the best course of action would be to dodge,' Ash thought to himself before calling out, "Riolu, dodge! If Rhyhorn misses, he'll take damage from recoil which we can then add to with **Dragon Pulse**!"

Bagon dove to the side before releasing a quick **Dragon Pulse** to propel himself upwards. Rhyhorn barely missed and turned around for another attempt to attack only to collapse on the ground, recoil draining some of his health.

"Finish him with **Dragon Pulse**!"

Bagon charged up his attack as Rhyhorn was getting up, the beam being unleashed just as Rhyhorn would have gotten up. Instead, Rhyhorn lay slumped on the ground as the beam whittled what little health they had left.

"Rhyhorn has been knocked out, please send out your last Pokémon."

"Well done, Ash! You've made it to my last Pokémon despite the fact that I gave you a harder challenge. Go, Onix!"

"Bagon, keep on going. Let's finish this and get our first gym badge," Ash called out before thinking about this round's strategy. There was no way for Bagon to immobilise or slow down Onix and the Rock-type was a little too big to stay out of reach. Then again, if they couldn't stay out of reach, they could stay close enough where it was hard for them to land a hit on them without hurting yourself, "Okay, Bagon, let's start off with **Dragon Pulse**!'

"Onix, use **Curse** before following it up with Rock Tomb!"

Onix closed its eyes whilst a red glow shrouded itself around him. The glow lasted longer than normal since **Curse** raised both attack and defence by one stage. However, as a drawback, **Curse** also lowered speed which was signified by the shorter blue glow.

Bagon charged his usual purple orb, although he was trying to put in more energy this time. The orb became a beam, shooting straight into Onix's face. The beam was soon interrupted by the falling rocks courtesy of Onix. The rocks came down fast and would've knocked out Bagon if the Dragon-type hadn't dodged only half a second earlier.

"Bagon, get closer to Onix. Shoot down any rocks that come too close!"

"Heh, let's see how many rocks Bagon can shoot down. Onix, **Rock Throw** and **Rock Tomb**!'

Bagon started sprinting towards the large Rock-type, keeping an eye on Onix and the rocks that Onix was hurling at him. Fortunately for Bagon, only six out of the fifty or so rocks in the first wave that was thrown made it close enough to him where he would have to shoot them down with Dragon Pulse.

The second wave was a different story, instead of six rocks coming at him, at least twenty were coming this time. Bagon was pretty good at shooting multiple targets but there was definitely too many. Bagon looked at how the rocks were coming: around fifteen were coming from the front and the rest were dropping from the top. The one coming from the top would be avoidable if he stayed out of their landing spot. After diving out of the landing radius for the rocks, Bagon used his **Dragon Pulse** to shoot down four of them before he somersaulted forward, narrowly missing a rock that he didn't notice until a few seconds ago.

"Bagon, use **Dragon Pulse** on the ground to make a foxhole."

Bagon nodded, using **Dragon Pulse** to make a shallow hole in the ground which he quickly dove into. The rocks flew over but Brock had a smile on his face. Ash quickly realised what Brock was going to use but he was a little late.

"Onix, use **Earthquake**!"

"Propel yourself out with **Dragon Pulse**!"

Onix jumped off the ground, each boulder in his body in the air, before his tail slammed into the ground with the force of a truck. This caused the ground to shake tremendously, about four times harder than Rhyhorn's **Bulldoze** which was already quite fearsome.

Bagon quickly shot out of the hole in the last second, another example of how Ash was winning this from quite a lot of luck. Bagon was only two seconds short of being completely annihilated by the **Earthquake**.

"Onix, use **Iron Tail**!"

"Try and propel yourself out of the way with **Dragon Pulse**!"

Onix swung his tail and was able to strike Bagon despite the fact that the Dragon-type was rocketing to the side from using **Dragon Pulse**. Bagon crashed into the ground with dust kicking up where he landed.

"Bagon, are you alright?" Ash called out, only getting silence as an answer. The boy walked over to where Bagon had landed before sighing and returning Bagon to his Pokéball.

"Bagon is unable to battle, please send out your final Pokémon."

"Alright then, Pikachu, you're gonna have to win this battle for us!" Ash called out, a smile on his face. Even with his preparation, the battle was still a fun challenge.

"You've had some pretty good strategies with your Pokémon, don't disappoint me on the last round," Brock called out to Ash before turning his attention back to the battle, "Onix, use **Earthquake**!"

"Pikachu, use **Iron Tail** to spring up a bit," Ash said before remembering that Onix had smacked Bagon straight out of the air, "Use **Iron Tail** to shield yourself from any incoming attacks!"

"Onix, use **Iron Tail** to smack it out of the air. Then use **Rock Tomb** and **Earthquake** whilst it's recovering!"

Pikachu used **Iron Tail** like a spring, hopping high enough so that the ground's vibrations didn't affect it but also low enough so that he didn't slam straight into getting ceiling.

Onix also used **Iron Tail** , although he was using it offensively unlike Pikachu. He swung his large tail, slicing through the air and slamming straight into Pikachu's own **Iron Tail**.

Due to size and power, Onix could overpower Pikachu. This caused Pikachu to be thrown back, though Pikachu spun again and was able to lower his tai so he would be able to soften his impact with the ground.

"Bounce onto the rocks with **Iron Tail** and use the rocks to close in on Onix!"

"Onix, instead of **Earthquake** , use **Rock Throw** and **Rock Tomb**!" Brock called out, "Throw as many rocks as possible!"

Pikachu did his little flip whilst using his tail as a spring to bounce himself onto one of the rocks. Pikachu stopped using **Iron Tail** to move around and changes to using **Quick Attack** so that he could cross some of the large gaps between the rocks.

"Pikachu, use **Iron Tail** between Onix's eyes!" Ash called out, deciding a safe place for Pikachu to land and attack Onix. The area between Onix's eyes was a blind spot and therefore, it made it hard for Onix to know where Pikachu was. And if Onix tried to strike blind, the Rock Snake Pokémon would only be attacking itself.

Pikachu did a few quick leaps and was able to cross the battlefield with relative ease, the Pokémon was a hop away before a rock came in close proximity with him. The mouse quickly prepared an **Iron Tail** to shatter the rock, doing a handstand on the rock he was on and swinging his tail straight through the incoming boulder. This caused the rock to shatter into smaller rocks and a cloud of dust allowing Pikachu to get between Onix's eyes without the Rock-Ground Pokémon seeing him get on.

Onix grunted as the cloud of dust appeared directly in front of his eyes. He continued throwing the rocks, hoping that he would still hit Pikachu despite his inability to see. He kept throwing until a sharp pain hit him between the eyes. Roaring in pain, Onix swung an **Iron Tail** at his head so that he could stop whatever was hitting him between his eyes,

"Onix, stop!"

Pikachu had already run across the top of Onix's head and was now on the top, balancing on the spike of the Rock-type. Onix had already swung his tail and hit himself with **Iron Tail** , causing him to topple over. Pikachu tried to jump off with his own **Iron Tail** but had fallen into a roll whilst his tail still had a metallic sheen. This caused him to act almost like a buzzsaw as he cut through the air. The yellow mouse stabilised himself midair and prepared himself for the landing.

"Pikachu, once you land, use **Quick Attack** before doing that **Buzzsaw Tail** attack again. Leap onto Onix's body before diving into a roll whilst using **Iron Tail**!"

Pikachu nodded and landed with his tail before using it to bounce onto of Onix's body. The Electric-type then dove into his buzzsaw-like attack. As Pikachu rolled over the boulders that made Onix's body, the Rock-type only screeched in pain as he felt the metal tail cut into his body.

"Pikachu, once you're at Onix's head, jump and use **Iron Tail** on Onix's head to keep him down!"

"Onix, use **Rock Tomb** to crush Pikachu whilst you can't get up!"

Pikachu was on the penultimate segment when the rocks fell from the sky, already in the air when the first one landed with a crash. Pikachu had already dished out some damage with the **Iron Tail** and **Buzzsaw Tail** when a rock fell close enough to him so that he jumped off of Onix's body.

"Pikachu, let's finish this! Climb up the rocks with **Iron Tail**!"

Pikachu did a backflip to gain some height, using his tail to bounce off of the first rock and reach the second. The Pokémon did a leap to reach another rock that was slightly higher before using **Iron Tail** to scale up the rest of the rocks.

"Now, jump off and use the **Buzzsaw Tail** attack!"

Pikachu did a forward flip off of the highest rock with **Quick Attack** , curling his metal-coated tail slightly inwards so that it was like the blades of the buzz saw and his main body was the rotor. He fell through the air swiftly, air resistance only barely hindering the speed at which he fell.

"Onix, **Curse**!"

Onix heard the command a little too late. Pikachu cut into Onix's body, thankfully not hitting Onix's head. Pikachu cut a half metre into Onix, resulting in a loud shriek of pain. Pikachu rolled out of the attack, softening his tail and making it lose its metallic properties. He rolled a little and landed in a heap. He got to his feet, wiping the sweat off of his forehead, and prepared to do some more attacks only to see that Onix was already knocked out.

"Onix is unable to battle, Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town wins!"

"We did it, Pikachu! We've taken out first few steps to becoming a Pokémon Master!" Ash said, scooping Pikachu up when he ran up to the little mouse, "But, whilst you did win, I said I would only give you ketchup if you knocked one of Brock's Pokémon out in one attack!"

"(But that attack would've knocked it out even if I hadn't attacked earlier... At least, it should've,)" Pikachu moaned, slumping on Ash's shoulder both for resting and to put up a little protest.

"Hah, well done, Ashy! You did well but I'm always going to do a thousand times better, " Leaf said, "But did you have to out the standards so high? You're not making my 'I'll always do a thousand times better' easy to do, y'know."

"Hey Ash, erm... Y'know how Pikachu was able to use **Iron Tail** to climb walls, erm, can you teach Chuchu as well?" Yellow asked with Chuchu squealing in approval, "Oh, and I should probably heal your Pokémon, shouldn't I?"

"Why not, Yellow? We'll teach Chuchu when we're going to Mount Moon," Ash said before handing his Pokémon over and turning his attention to Brock.

"Alright, Ash, you've surprised me by how well you've thought out this battle. And, because of your skill and strategy, I'm proud to give you the Boulder Badge!" Brock said, holding the pin out for Ash to take.

"Thanks, Brock. It was a fun battle!" Ash said before he and Yellow went to the stands so that they could spectate Leaf's battle. Ash looked at the battlefield, all of the spikes had crumbled and there were a few craters where the **Rock Tomb** had hit particularly hard. Leaf was going to have to deal with flatter terrain which meant that there was going to be fewer ways to hide. He hoped Leaf kept to her word, a battle a thousand times better than his one would be fun to watch.

* * *

 **9'032 words, this chapter is 9'032 words. There won't be any complaints about a short chapter, right? I hope you guys have enjoyed the Gym Battle, tell me if you guys thought it was alright. Thanks, guys and c'ya later!**


	6. Pewter Gym pt 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon since it belongs to Nintendo.**

Hey guys, due to all the chapters I've missed, I'm going to try and change the schedule from one chapter a month to one chapter a week until we get October. That means that I'm going to be writing a lot of chapters in advance but, hey, someone might see this fix and be inspired to write another (much better) Furthershipping Fic. But anyway, on with the gym battle!

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic speech_ ' = Telepathy

* * *

"Aren't you going to heal your Pokémon?" Leaf asked as she walked into her trainer box with Bulbasaur at her side, "They all took a beating."

Brock chuckled and responded with, "It's okay, I won't be using the team I used with Ash. You see, whilst your Pokémon trust you, they haven't got as deep a connection as Ash and his Pokémon. But don't think I'm going easy on you. Go, Geodude!"

"Go, Bulbasaur!" Leaf called out before taking a quick look at Ash and Yellow, she probably won't be able to deliver a battle a thousand times or even a hundred times better but she could at least try to have an equally good battle. That would be good enough to watch.

"This is a three-on-three battle between Brock, the Gym Leader of Pewter City, and the challenger..."

"Leaf Green from Pallet Town."

"And the challenger= Leaf Green from Pallet Town begins!"

"Alright, Bulbasaur. Use your **Vine Whip** to push yourself off of the ground. Then use another pair of vines to grab Geodude!" Leaf called

Bulbasaur extended two vines that started pushing against the ground, causing the Grass-type to start rising into the air. The Pokémon then extended vines near his rear to try and grapple Geodude. The vines twisted and turned after Geodude, who was trying to avoid being grabbed by the vines.

"Geodude, use **Rock Tomb** on Bulbasaur directly whilst using **Rock Throw** to squash the vines," Brock called out, ready to adapt for a different fighting style.

"Bulbasaur, use your vines to shatter rocks instead of grabbing him. Sprout another pair of vines to start blocking the **Rock Tomb**!"

Bulbasaur sprouted the third pair of vines which caused a little strain, but nothing that was immediately tiring. Bulbasaur changed into a more defensive position, retracting one pair of vines so that he was a little closer to the ground. Then he changed the course of another pair of vines, changing their targets from Geodude to the rocks being hurled by Geodude, whilst also extending another pair of vines to crack and shatter the falling rocks trying to crush him.

"Geodude, use sharper rocks with **Rock Throw**!"

"Bulbasaur, keep on breaking the rocks. Make sure you strike them from the blunt side," Leaf called out before thinking of her next few moves, 'Alright, if I try and use Bulbasaur's vines to strike Geodude, parts of the vine will be hit by incoming rocks which will do some damage to Geodude. If I try and grab Geodude it would be the same, so I have to get a ranged attack. Erm, Bulbasaur could probably grab one of the rocks with his vines. If he then throws it back, it will damage Geodude without damaging Bulbasaur. I'll wait until the rocks slow down before I throw them.'

Bulbasaur's vines whipped through the air much faster, quickly finding an area that they could crack easily. The vines may have been effective, leaving only fragments of rocks and a lot of dust in Bulbasaur's seven-metre radius, but they were tiring. It took some effort to keep the four vines (two for the falling rocks and another two for the rocks coming from Geodude) moving at a such a speed. It didn't help that that the two vines he had been using to hold himself up were straining themselves to keep him up in the air.

"Geodude, keep throwing more rocks. We should be able to outlast them."

'Crap, there goes my plan. Bulbasaur has **Tackle** , **Growl** , **Leech** **Seed** , **Vine** **Whip** as well as both **Poison Powder** and **Sleep Powder**. Bulbasaur isn't that good at **Poison Powder** and **Sleep Powder** so that leaves the other four. I can use **Leech** **Seed** to whittle Geodude's health down and I can use **Vine Whip** to throw the rocks and inflict most of my damage,' Leaf thought her plan out before calling, "Bulbasaur, release **Leech Seed** on Geodude, scatter them across the field! If we can't defend from the rocks, let's throw them back at Geodude with **Vine Whip**!"

Bulbasaur's bulb opened slightly and a cloud of seed erupted out of it. The seeds were scattered on the battlefield, causing sprouts to form across the battlefield whilst a few select seeds were sent directly to Geodude, latching onto his body and causing vines to grow onto Geodude. The vines that he had been whipping around erratically now slowed down, the vines now wrapping around the rocks and throwing them at Geodude.

"Alright, Geodude, use Rollout to try and dodge the attacks! Make sure that you don't roll onto one of the seeds!"

"Bulbasaur, lower yourself down. Use those vines to grab Geodude, then throw him into the walls."

Geodude curled into a ball, rolling across the ground. He rolled quickly, not as fast as Graveler but fast enough so that he was unable to stop himself when he was going to roll directly onto one of the sprouts and having another couple of vines wrap around him and keep him as a ball. He was stationary for a few seconds before he felt vines slither and tie itself around him.

Bulbasaur grinned as he realised he was controlling the battle, he was in a position where he could do a lot of damage whilst not being damaged himself. He felt energy being brought back from the Leech Seed, using that energy to lift Geodude and slam him into a wall. The Grass-type released some vines from Geodude, making sure that he kept a good grip whilst also making sure that he had a free vine to use for damage dealing.

"Geodude, use **Rock Polish**. I'll tell you when to stop!"

"Bulbasaur, start whipping Geodude with your vines. We need to finish him off before he's able to break out of the vines!"

Geodude started glowing blue, raising his speed by one buff. It would take, as a minimum, around a minute to get to four or five buffs which Geodude thought was enough. He didn't have any attack buffs so maybe six would be needed but he would try with four and then work up.

Whilst Geodude was raising his speed, Bulbasaur was trying to disrupt his buffs by slamming his vines on Geodude as quickly and with as much strength as he could. Bulbasaur extended another two vines so that he had another few vines to attack Geodude with. The vines around Geodude started moving much faster and more aggressively, causing the area around Geodude to become either whipping vines or wind left by the vines moving.

"That should be enough, Geodude. Now, break out!"

"Keep on whipping him, Bulbasaur. Maybe we can take him down before he regains himself!"

Geodude slammed his arms against the vines that were wrapped around him, causing the **Leech Seed** to rip and causing the **Vine Whip** to lose some strength. He was close to becoming free but he could feel himself about to faint, the constant strikes from the vines were drawing his health. He opened his arms again, almost ripping through the **Vine Whip**.

Bulbasaur reacted by retracting the vine wrapped around Geodude and replacing it with a new vine. Bulbasaur gave up on trying to hold Geodude in place and used all of his vines to start whipping Geodude. This proved effective since, despite having nothing to hold Geodude in place, Bulbasaur was able to keep whipping Geodude so that he was unable to move.

"Geodude, use **Rock Tomb** to squash the vines!"

Brock was little too late though, Geodude was barely able to listen to Brock's sentence before he fell to the ground due to being knocked out. Brock pulled out Geodude's Pokéball and recalled the Rock-type, a small smile on his face.

"Geodude is unable to battle, please send out your next Pokémon!"

"You used **Vine Whip** in various ways, something I wouldn't expect from a new trainer. So, how about a deal, we skip my second Pokèmon and get straight to the hard battle. It'll make this battle a two-on-two instead. Are you alright with that?" Brock called out, clipping Geodude's Pokèball back to his belt.

Leaf smirked, "If we're going straight to the hard fight, I'm down. This'll make this battle even sweeter when I win!"

"I'm glad you're confident, don't let that turn into arrogance. Let's finish this, Onix!"

"So you have two?" Leaf asked, trying to think of a new strategy for Onix. Onkx was much larger than Geodude, meaning he was a bigger target. But, then again, Onix was much bulkier than Geodude and had stronger attacks. **Leech Seed** was probably going to be Bulbasaur's most useful attack, the question was how to get them on Onix.

"Onix, let's start off strong with **Rock Throw**!"

"Shatter them with **Vine Whip** before using **Leech Seed**!"

Onix slammed his tail into the ground, causing rocks to fly out. Onix kept slamming his tail down, the rocks flying faster and faster and closing in on Bulbasaur. The rocks got close to Bulbasaur but all of them shattered once a vine slammed into their side and cut right through. Bulbasaur was only using two vines to shatter the rocks, not wanting to waste the energy he had left on defence.

With most of the rocks shattered, Bulbasaur opened his bulb up to spray seeds into the air. The seeds fell through the air, some landing on Onix's lower segments but most of them landed on the battlefield. The few sprouts that did land on Onix did grow into vines but they weren't large enough to tie up Onix (or even slightly restrain movement), at least they would still drain some health.

'I need a way for more seeds to reach Onix whilst also keeping my distance. Most of them fell because they didn't have something to push them onto Onix and to keep them on a straight path. Oh, of course, Bulbasaur can use his vines as a fan and the seeds will be pushed by the breeze!' Leaf thought to herself before saying, "Bulbasaur, use **Leech Seed** whilst using your vines as a fan!"

"Onix, use **Rock Throw** to block them!"

Bulbasaur's bulb opened up again, blasting out a bigger cloud of seeds and with a much higher concentration of them. The cloud started to diffuse into the air but Bulbasaur started to spin his vines at high speeds, causing the cloud to float over to Onix whilst also keeping almost all the seeds on their path.

Onix slammed his tail, the rocks shooting out of the ground with some going through the cloud of seeds and taking some of the seeds with them. The seeds still continued on their path, only losing a small amount of them to the first few rocks. The second few took almost all the seeds, leaving the few that were still riding the breeze to land on Onix's middle segments. The vines that grew from them didn't grow large enough to slow Onix down but the health that was coming back to Bulbasaur was definitely going to help.

'How can I get those seeds onto Onix without them falling or being blown away by **Rock Throw**? I need a way to make sure that most of the seeds land on Onix,' Leaf stopped as she noticed a few yellow spots on the tips of Bulbasaur's vines, "Bulbasaur, **Leech Seed** sticks to your vines whilst also staying as a seed. Alright then, make the biggest cloud of seeds you possibly can before using your vines to grab them!"

"Onix, **Rock Tomb**!"

Bulbasaur released a third cloud, smaller than the second cloud but with a much higher concentration of seeds. Bulbasaur then extended eight vines from his bulb and extended them into the cloud before spinning them around for a bit so that they had some seeds on them. Bulbasaur then sent those vines to Onix whilst extending two other vines to try and break the rocks that were falling above him.

The seeded vines reached Onix, starting to slither across the surface of the Rock Snake's body and leaving a trail of sprouts wherever they went. The vines continued to crawl across until Onix's middle segments were almost completely green with only a few small circles where there weren't any vines sapping Onix's health.

"Nice job, Bulbasaur! Are you feeling invigorated? Let's use that energy to keep on doing some damage, use **Vine Whip**!"

"Onix, use **Iron Tail**!"

Onix lifted his tail, only to drop it and roar in pain. The vines were draining his health, indicated by the vines glowing a bright green. Bulbasaur's vines slammed onto Onix's body, dealing a lot of damage and lowering Onix's health.

Leaf glanced at Bulbasaur, seeing the sweat trickling down the Pokémon's head. Bulbasaur's vines started to slow down, their movements slightly slower and much more predictable. The vines weren't being retracted so it wasn't the fact that Bulbasaur had a lot of vines extended. Maybe it was the fact that the Grass-type was controlling multiple vines at the same time.

"Onix, use **Iron Tail** to swat those vines away!"

"Bulbasaur, retract all your vines!"

Bulbasaur's vines froze before they all sped back to Bulbasaur's bulb, barely avoiding Onix's metallic tail. Bulbasaur sighed a little as he regained some energy from the **Leech Seed** , Onix probably didn't have a lot of health left since Onix was panting quite heavily.

"Bulbasaur, is controlling multiple vines at the same time draining your energy?" Leaf asked, also seeing how low Onix's health was. She wanted to know how much energy they could spend on finishing the fight.

Bulbasaur nodded, "(Do you think controlling twelve vines at the same time is a cake walk?)"

"Alright then, instead of controlling multiple independent vines, let's use one large connected one. Bulbasaur, extend your vines and wrap them around each other to make a thicker, stronger vine!"

Bulbasaur extended ten vines, not wasting energy on an extra two, before tieing two of them around each other. Seeing what Leaf meant, he did the same with the other pairs of vines before using the five dual vines to make two larger vines and one central vine. When he tied the three together, he was left with one large vine that appeared to be coming out of his bulb.

"Nice vine, Bulbasaur! Instead of slamming it onto Onix's body, use it like a ram and push it into Onix!"

"Onix, use **Iron Tail** to block it!"

Onix swung his metallic tail at Bulbasaur's vine, causing them to clash in the centre of the battlefield. To everyone's surprise, Bulbasaur's vine was able to overpower Onix's **Iron Tail** and rammed into Onix's head, causing the Rock-type to screech in pain.

"Put all your strength into the next push. Now, **Vine Whip** again!"'

Bulbasaur's vines twisted in the air, lunging forwards with a lot of force and momentum. The vine ram pushed straight into Onix's top segments, causing the Rock Snake to fall on itself.

"Onix is unable to battle, Leaf Green from Pallet Town wins!"

"You did great, Bulbasaur!" Leaf said, rubbing Bulbasaur's forehead, "You even beat the gym by yourself, you've officially earned some bragging rights!"

Brock chuckled as he recalled his Pokèmon, "You and your friend are pretty good battlers, much better than the other trainers that have been coming here. You both have different battle styles but I'm happy to say that both are effective. So, I'm proud to give to you, the Boulder Badge!"

"Hah, yes! One down, seven to go! Then we win the league and become the champions!" Leaf shouted, holding her badge in front of her eyes and rubbing a few specs of dust that she noticed.

Ash walked down from the stands, "You did pretty well, Leaf. Although I have to say, it was nowhere near 1000 times better than mine."

Leaf looked a little disheartened, feigning sadness as she forced some tears out. When Ash started to apologise, she grinned with a look that stated the fact that he got played.

"You're really easy to manipulate, aren't you? C'mon Ash, Leaf's not even trying anymore," Yellow said, Leaf was teaching her how to manipulate and lie making it easer fo Yellow to spot when she was, "But anyway, he's right. You aren't anywhere near 1000 times better than Ash. You only had to deal with two Pokémon for beginners whilst Ash had to deal with three."

Leaf snarled, "I don't care about your opinion, Yellow. And stop ruining my acts, I enjoy my practices. And anyway, Pokémon are part of nature. You tried to scare us out of not catching any Pokémon to battle, what happened now?"

"I'm sure I told you I was psychic, I just read the Pokémon's thoughts and emotions and see if they want to battle or not. The Pokémon that lived in the forest were mostly pacifists who wanted to enjoy their lives, I've been trying to accept that some Pokémon like violence."

"Alright guys, we should head to a Pokémon Centre in case Yellow missed anything," Ash said, seeing that their conversation was over.

* * *

"Alright, now that we're all healed up. We should go to Viridian Forest to get the spare amber that Yellow talked about," Leaf called out as they wandered around Pewter City.

"Speaking of amber, how much was the one in the rock worth?" Yellow asked when Leaf brought a bee as a topic.

"Let me check," Leaf said, before clicking some buttons on her Pokénav, "Dear Arceus, we hit the fucking jackpot!"

Ash was a little surprised at Leaf's reaction, "How much did we make? Why are you so surprised?"

Leaf shoved her Pokénav in front of Ash's face, the screen reading bids from 1'000'000 all the way to 100'000'000, "You see Ash, we're fucking millionaires! We can live off of this until the end of our Kanto adventure, we're set for life. I knew all those times I've been caught as a scammer would lead to something good!"

Yellow laughed with childish glee, "We're millionaires? W-we're millionaires? This isn't just the hundred thousand you said yesterday, we're actually millionaires!"

Ash smiled, "I thought good things came to those who wait. Leaf, you're the least patient person I can think of and I'm including Gary. Living off of it until the end of Kanto is a stretch but why is the amber so valuable?"

Leaf glared at Ash until he stopped smiling, "If you want to compare me to Gary, I can cut your share of the money. In the amber, there's an ancestor of Yanma which netted a few hundred thousand like I said yesterday. The Aerodactyl claw in the centre is what netted some more money, people are thinking that they can use it to revive an Aerodactyl. But the real money maker, that was the blood stain on the claw as well as the small brown smudge near the bug. Some of our potential buyers think that we've found a brand new species of ancient Pokémon that was preyed on by Aerodactyl!"

"Are we going to revive the Aerodactyl or sell it to the highest bidder?" Yellow, who was still laughing from the hype of possibly receiving a hundred million, asked.

"We're doing both, obviously! I'm an expert at conning, we can revive Aerodactyl, ask for them to return the amber and then sell it to one of our bidders," Leaf said before her idea was shut down by Ash.

"We aren't scamming innocent people to get some quick money. Yellow, don't tell me you want to scam these people!" Ash said, making sure that Leaf wasn't going to commit any crimes whilst they were travelling together.

The brunette quickly responded before Yellow sided with Ash,"Why, Mr Morality? How do you know they aren't scammers themselves, how do you know they aren't criminals? And how is up to a hundred million 'quick money?'"

"I don't want you to get arrested or in trouble with the law. If I let you scam more people, you're bound to be caught sooner or later!"

Leaf blushed a little before responding, "Why do you have to be so logical? Do you have to be the voice of reason?"

"So guys, are we selling the amber or not? We could always look for some more amber in Viridian Forest, all the amber there must add up to something. And aren't we all rich enough to last another city or two? We're fine!" Yellow called out, hoping that they wouldn't break into an argument that she would have to resolve.

"Yeah, sure. If we aren't going to get the tens of millions because of Ash, we should get the hundreds of thousands from Viridian Forest. Lead the way, Yellow!" Leaf called out as the group headed to Viridian Forest for a second time.

* * *

Ash, Leaf and Yellow all exited Viridian Forest with a relieved sigh. When Yellow had said that there was a lot of amber in Viridian Forest, she wasn't lying. Leaf estimated that they were going to make a two million as a minimum, a minimum!

"My back aches!" Leaf shouted. Her bag and pockets were completely filled with pieces of amber. The only thing that was stopping her from dumping them all on the side was the fact that she estimated that the ones she was carrying added up to a value of 400'000 to 700'000

"Suck it up, Leaf. We're carrying the same amount of amber as you. And our Pokémon are carrying the Swarm Stone. The piece of amber that must weigh a lot more than what you're carrying and probably weighs more than everything else we have," Ash said, getting annoyed at Leaf's constant moaning.

Pikachu, Chuchu, Riolu, Bagon, Bulbasaur, Spearow and Pidgeotto all agreed with Ash. Pikachu and Chuchu were carrying the amber from the rear, Riolu and Bagon were carrying it from the front, Bulbasaur was under the centre of the rock and using the **Vine Ram** strategy to give the amber a pillar to stand on. Pidgeotto and Spearow were both flying in the air, using their claws to help keep the Swarm Stone in the air. All in all, they were putting in a lot more work than Leaf.

Yellow seemed a little annoyed at Leaf, "The Pokémon are putting in a lot more effort than you are. They aren't moaning at all so I don't think you should. It's not like they want to carry a heavy piece of amber whilst the sun is setting!"

"Where are we going to put all the amber?" Leaf asked since she wasn't going to carry the amber around until she sold every piece of amber.

"There is a museum in Pewter City, we can just give them our amber for a price," Ash suggested.

"But we'll get ripped off!" Leaf said, she could get better prices than what the museum would give them.

"Do you want to carry all of this amber around?" Ash replied, smirking when he only heard crickets chirping and birds singing, "...Exactly."

"So, who's going to keep the Aerodactyl?" Yellow asked.

"Me, obviously!" Leaf said, not giving Ash any room to speak, "I was the one that suggested getting the rock!"

"B-but, you were against it at first!" Ash said, only to be responded to by puppy-dog eyes, "Ugh... Fine!"'

Leaf just smirked, "I told you Ash was an easy target! And you said you didn't fall for cuteness..."

"Hey, I'm not an easy target!"

"Your opinion doesn't change it! But anyway, I'm getting the Aerodactyl!"

* * *

Ash and Yellow laughed as Leaf stood there dumbfounded. The trio had come to the museum just a few minutes before the museum would close, and when asking about possible prices for the amber, they were responded to by a possible seventeen million pokédollar cheque. The museum even allowed them to use the Pokémon Revival Machine for only 5'000 pokédollars

"B-but, they should've given us a really low price. They were meant to only offer a few hundred thousand, not a million," Leaf mumbled to herself before saying something that was incoherent.

"And you're complaining?" Ash asked, causing Leaf to give him a death glare.

A museum clerk walked up to them, causing them to stop, "You three are being called up to use the Pokémon Fossil Revival Machine. Please head to the room over there."

The trio nodded, following the man through the door and into a small white room with a large machine in the middle.

"Can you place your amber in there?" the man asked, waving his hand near a box that was connected in the machine, "And place a Pokéball in the Pokéball slot?"

Leaf placed the piece of amber in the metal box before pulling an empty Pokéball from her bag and placing it in the dedicated slot. She, along with Ash and Yellow, sat down on the group of chairs and waited for the machine to finish its revival process.

"So, what was the stain on the Aerodactyl's claw?" the brunette asked, wondering if they could still sell the amber for a high price.

"Just some Rawst Berry juices, Rawst Berries were quite common during the time that Aerodactyl lived in," the doctor said, causing Pikachu to sigh in contentment and fall onto Ash's lap, "Might I ask why your Pikachu responded like that?"

"He really likes ketchup, his favourite one uses Rawst Berries in the recipe," Ash explained, picking Pikachu up and placing him on his shoulder.

After a few minutes or so, a light started flashing on the machine. One of the museum workers pulled the Pokéball out of its slot and handed it to Leaf, saying something along the lines of taking care of the Aerodactyl and that they were going to receive the cheque in a few minutes. But that didn't matter at all, she now had a rare Aerodactyl that would wipe the floor with anything she needed to beat.

"Go, Aerodactyl!"

"Please, not again!" the museum clerk yelled, diving onto the ground due to a prior experience.

Aerodactyl sat on the ground with her wings tucked in, "(What's that guy's problem?)"

Leaf pulled out her Pokédex, scanning the Aerodactyl.

Aerodactyl, the Fossil Pokémon. Commonly restored from DNA found in amber, this Pokémon. flew through the open skies over the ancient continent as if they were its own. It used its warlike fangs to shred its prey before eating it. This Aerodactyl is level 20 with the ability Rock Head. It is a female who is relaxed and knows the following moves: Bite, Fire Fang, Ice Fang, Iron Head, Scary Face, Supersonic, Thunder Fang, Wing Attack, Roar and Agility.

Leaf looked at Aerodactyl's stats and was pleased with what she saw. Whilst Aerodactyl were usually more of an offence-based Pokémon, its defence was nothing to laugh at. Its nature boosted Defense by 10% but also lowered Speed by 10% which went okay with Leaf's defensive battle style. And anyway, you can't win on defence alone. A good sweeper would be important to her team.

* * *

"Alright, everyone's ready to make our way through Mount Moon, right?" Ash called out, sitting on his bed inside the Pokémon Centre room.

"I am, we just need to wait for Leaf to wake up," Yellow said, scratching Chuchu's head with one hand and pointing to Leaf with another.

"Alright, we gave her ten minutes. Pikachu, shock her!" Ash called out. The Electric Mouse on his shoulder listened and waddled his way over to Leaf before releasing a light electric shock onto Leaf. Since the light shock didn't work, Pikachu smiled as he delivered a much heavier shock. Serves her right for stealing his ketchup.

"Pikachu, I will kill you and everyone you care about!" Leaf screamed as she jumped out of bed, "Why can't you just give me a light shock for once?"

"He did try, Leaf. You're just a heavy sleeper," Ash quickly picked up Pikachu and pulled him away from Leaf, earning a happy squeal from the yellow mouse.

Leaf yawned, deciding to give up on chasing Pikachu, "So, when are going to Mount Moon?"

Ash snorted, "Once you've gotten up and have prepared your spelunking gear, we're going today."

"Oh... Just give me half an hour," Leaf said, bouncing off of her bed and heading to the bathroom.

* * *

The trio entered Route 3 only to be met with a horde of trainers and a ton of ledges which some trainers were hoping off of. Ash and Leaf smiled, fiery competitive look in both of their eyes.

"Hey, Yellow. Ash and I are going to have a little competition. We're going to see how many trainers we can beat in an hour, do you want to be the ref?" Leaf asked, Ash nodding as she said it, "We're betting a hundred thousand so be accurate!"

"Do I have a choice?" Yellow asked to which they both shook their heads, "Alright, do you guys have a stopwatch or a timer?"

Ash nodded, handing his Stopwatch over. He got into a running position, waiting for Yellow to start.

"Alright, Three! Two! One! Go!" Yellow counted down before grabbing Chuchu off of her shoulder and walking back into Pewter City, "I'm not gonna wait there for an hour. Hey Chuchu, do you want to check the museum again?"

'But they're running off unsupervised, what if they do something stupid?' Chuchu thought, quickly glancing between Ash and Leaf.

Leaf smiled, removing her hand off of Chuchu's forehead, "I'm not their parents, I'm two years younger than them, so... Where do you want to go?"

'Some food and chili sauce would be nice...' Chuchu thought, causing Yellow to giggle.

* * *

"Aerodactyl, Ice Fang!" Leaf called out, finishing the Caterpie off.

"Return, Caterpie," the Bug Catcher said, handing over the money.

Leaf snatched the money. The brunette looked around before spotting another trainer and hopping down a ledge. Once down the ledge, she asked the small girl if she wanted to battle. The girl nodded, saying something about not having anything better to do, before sending out Pidgey and gesturing for Leaf to send her Pokémon out.

"Spearow, use **Tri-Attack** and **Peck**!" Leaf called out, itching for this battle to be over. That hundred thousand belonged to her.

"Pidgey, dodge and use **Gust** to blow them back!"

Spearow released her three beams which Pidgey dodged with a barrel roll. Spearow nudged her head up slightly, causing the beams to hit their target and freeze Pidgey's wings. Pidgey tried to walk away but Spearow quickly darted towards Pidgey and jabbed her beak into the Flying-type.

"Pidgey, **Sand Attack**!"

"Spearow, loop-de-loop and use **Tri-Peck**!"

Pidgey kicked some sand up with his claws, missing Spearow by a few seconds. Spearow did a loop-de-loop, gaining both some speed and some time to charge up a **Tri-Attack** and let it be absorbed into **Peck**. When the attack struck its target, the Pidgey fell over with their eyes replaced by swirls.

"Return, Pidgey. You did really well. Go, Rattata. Use Focus Energy into a Bite!"

"Use Tri-Peck again, Spearow!"

Rattata went into a super focused state with his eyes becoming fixed on Spearow. The small bird circle counter-clockwise around Rattata, getting closer and closer to Rattata until the Spearow dove down and stabbed her multicoloured beak into Rattata's torso. The purple rodent quickly responded by biting one, of Spearow's legs, not getting the critical hit but still being able to get some damage.

"Use **Tri-Attack** to get Rattata off of you!"

"Use **Hyper Fang** , Rattata!"

Spearow charged up another trio of beams, ready to blast them at point-blank range. When Rattata released the bird from his grip, Spearow wasn't able to start flapping her wings and fell face flat on the ground with the trio of beams exploding in her face.

Rattata's teeth quickly elongated as well as gaining a bright white glow before the Normal-type chomped on Spearow's main body. Rattata's attack seemed to do extra damage, as a result of being a critical hit, leaving Rattata with barely enough health to keep on fighting.

"Spearow, **Tri-Attack**! We should finish this off from a distance!"

"Rattata, use **Quick Attack** to finish this off!"

Spearow hopped off the ground, quickly gaining some height before hovering a couple metres off of the ground. The bird started hovering just out of Rattatas reach before blasting her elemental beams at the Rattata, focusing all of the beams onto the rat's small body. After a few seconds, a small flame rolled over Rattata's forehead.

"Alright, Spearow! Now we just wait for the burn to finish him off!"

As if on cue, Rattata fell over with swirls instead of eyes. Both trainers returned their Pokémon, shaking their hands in the middle with Leaf having a triumphant smile. After the girl handed over the prize money, Leaf waved goodbye and ran to find her fourth battle.

Ash was walking around Route 3, looking for any potential battles. He'd already beaten five so he was pretty sure he didn't need to rush, seeing as Leaf had only just finished her third battle. Ash was actually quite surprised to see that a lot of trainers either didn't want to battle or had a team full of Pokémon that had fainted yet weren't heading to a Pokémon Centre.

"Hey, you with the red hat! You better battle with me!" Ash heard a squeaky voice behind him say. It was weird how many six to eight-year-olds were challenging him. He had to wait until he was twelve to become a trainer so why don't these kids?

"Alright, I choose you, Pikachu," Ash called out, giving the lightly snoozing yellow mouse on his shoulder a little nudge.

"Your Pikachu may look strong but he's no match for my Pokémon! Go, Nidorino!" the trainer said to Ash's surprise. Most of the trainers he had battled were using low-levelled Pokémon from Viridian Forest as well as Pokémon from Route 2 and Route 22 (not that Ash thought there was anything wrong with them.)

"I'll give you the first move," Ash said, still a little impressed by the Nidorino.

"Alright, Nidorino. Let's start off strong with Poison Point!"

"Pikachu, bounce with **Iron Tail**. Then, retaliate with **Electro Ball**!"

Nidorino opened his mouth, white poisonous darts flying out and ready to cause some damage. Pikachu did a low flip before slamming his tail in the air and using the rebound force to shoot into the air. Pikachu spun in the air, charging up an orb of electricity before flinging it at Nidorino with perfect aim.

"Alright Nidorino, use **Horn Attack** to damage Pikachu whilst they're in the air!"

"Pikachu, defend with **Iron Tail**! Then do some damage with **ThunderShock**!"

Nidorino's horn started glowing white before Nidorino attempted to stab Pikachu's torso with it. Pikachu quickly curled his metallic tail up so that he could block the attack with **Iron Tail**! The Electric-type Pokémon bounced back a little bit, releasing some electricity out of his cheeks and shocking Nidorino.

"Pikachu, gain a little more distance! Then focus **ThunderShock** onto Nidorino!"

"Nidorino, **Focus Energy** before charging in with **Fury Attack**!"

Pikachu landed on the ground, doing a few backflips to create some distance. The Pokémon's cheeks sparked a little before they released some electricity in a less wild manner. The sparks stayed in what appeared to be a beam damaging Nidorino, who was still using Focus Energy and therefore sitting still.

Nidorino broke out of his hyper-focused state and started running towards Pikachu with his horn glowing a light white. The Poison-type closed in on Pikachu before repeatedly shoving his horn into the yellow mouse's body, landing a few strikes to the head. One of which caused Pikachu to gain a light purple streak indicating that Pikachu had been poisoned whilst another caused some extra damage due to the **Focus Energy**.

Ash sighed, "Damn it, I knew Nidorino had **Poison Point** , crap. Well, since there's nothing stopping us, use **Buzzsaw Tail** before following it with a close-range **Electro Ball**!"

"Nidorino, dodge to the side and use **Horn Attack**!"

Pikachu sprinted an all fours before falling into a somersault and hopping off the ground with an Iron Tail, maintaining his somersault whilst in the air. Pikachu cut through the air, much faster that Nidorino thought he would, and cut through the top of Nidorino. The Poison-type winced a little due to how much health Buzzsaw Tail had depleted before doing a quick hop to the side to avoid any attacks from behind.

Nidorino was correct in predicting that Pikachu would strike from behind, avoiding the **Electro Ball** that sailed past. The Poison-type turned around poking his horn into Pikachu's arm which, along with the poison damage, drained enough health to make up for being hit by **Buzzsaw Tail**.

"Pikachu, use **Electro Ball** to do some quick damage. Then I want you to follow it up with an **Iron Tail**!"

"Nidorino, **Double Kick**!"

Nidorino raised his hind legs before aiming one leg for the Electro Ball and another leg for Pikachu's torso. Nidorino's right leg pushed straight into the orb of electricity, causing it to explode hurt Nidorino. The Poison-type winced as he felt something slam into the back of his head, the **Electro Ball** was a dummy whilst the **Iron Tail** was the actual damage dealer.

"Pikachu, finish them off with a full-powered **ThunderShock**!"

Pikachu smiled as his rosy cheeks sparked much harder than they had before. Pikachu's smile broke into an ear-to-grin as he released almost all of his stored energy as **ThunderShock**. Whilst Pikachu was regaining his energy, the purple hue on his face deepened and the Pokémon felt a little weak.

"Nidorino, use **Horn Attack** to finish it off!"

Nidorino didn't get up, staying face down on the floor and completely quite. The Poison-type grunted a little before both trained heard a snore emanating from Nidorino.

"Alright Pikachu, let's actually finish it off this time! **Buzzsaw Tail**!"

Pikachu leapt into the air before using Iron Tail and spinning through the air. Despite spinning much slower, Pikachu was able to do enough damage to finish Nidorino off before he himself slumped onto the air and panting a little.

Ash took the prize money and waved goodbye to the trainer before taking a quick look of the crowd to find Yellow so that he could heal Pikachu, '...Where's Yellow?'

* * *

"Do you think we should go, Chuchu?" Yellow said, sitting on and enjoying the sun's warmth, "I'm starting to feel a little guilty now, they did trust me to stay there..."

Chuchu nodded, climbing up Yellow's shoulder and sitting on the straw hat with her finger pointed at where Route 3 was. The mouse quickly pulled off the lid of a chilli sauce bottle and squirted a little on her paw which she immediately licked.

Yellow giggled before checking the stopwatch which caused the giggles to die down, "Oh. Heh, erm... It's already been an hour. They're probably looking for me, so we should probably head there as soon as possible."

Chuchu nodded and the girl quickly started speed walking down the path and towards Route 3, expecting Ash and Leaf to be waiting at the entrance. To her surprise, there wasn't anyone there aside from the few trainers who were walking in and out of Pewter City.

'If they aren't there, where could they be?' Yellow thought to herself as she wandered around Route 3, looking around the area where they had been battling. After Yellow decided that they must have gone closer to Mount Moon, she started walking towards the entrance of Mount Moon.

'I see them near that cave,' Chuchu pointed out, waving towards the entrance of Mount Moon.

"Thanks, Chuchu!" Yellow chirped before walking over to the two people that were standing a few metres away from the entrance to the cave,

As Yellow got closer, she realised that Leaf must have been talking to someone via the Pokénav, "... So anyway, Ash and I have a new addition to our group. Her name's Yellow and she's pretty cool, she's my student in lying and manipulation... Of course, she knows I'm a con artist, why else would she choose me as her teacher... I don't play with Ash that much... Ew, are you really gonna go there, mum? I'm twelve, I don't play in _that_ way!"

Yellow approached the now flustered and blushing Leaf with a little caution, "Hey, um, Leaf. Where's Ash?"

Leaf realised Yellow's presence and quickly started trying to regain her calm composure over her mother's statement, "Oh, he went to the Pokémon Centre to heal Pikachu. Guess who won the bet, whilst you were gone."

Yellow thought a little, "... Was it Ash? Erm, by the way, what was your mother talking to you about. You know, to do with Ash?"

"First off, no. I won the bet because Ash got worried and went looking for you which let me take the 100'000 prize. And two, you don't need to know. Let's just say my mum's really good at twisting words and that I should've chosen my words better," Leaf said, another deep blush creeping onto her face.

"Oh..." Leaf started blushing as well, both from the fact that Ash was worried about her but also by what Leaf was implying. What kind of parent does that?

"I'm back, guys," Ash called out a few minutes later, breaking a couple minutes of silence between the two girls, "What's up with you two?"

Leaf blushed again, it wasn't as noticeable as it was a few minutes ago but it was still there, "Erm..."

"You know what, if it makes you embarrassed, I don't want to know. Anyway, we should probably get our cave gear ready, we're not going to find anywhere good to change, so erm... We're gonna need to find somewhere where no will see us change, " Ash pointed out, rubbing his arm sheepishly.

"You mean you're going to find a place where no one will see you change!" Leaf said before pointing at a small public toilet that was six or so metres away, "Yellow and I are going to be changing over there, pervert!"

"... Pervert?" Ash asked himself as he walked away from the group and into the trees where there were a couple bushes just tall enough for him to hide behind, "Have my guy hormones been acting up or does she know I still have a crush on her?"

* * *

Ash, Leaf and Yellow all met up back at the cave entrance, wearing different attire as well as some hiking and caving gear.

Ash was wearing an over suit with a black T-shirt and some shorts underneath. The boy also wore triple-padded elbow pads and knee pads whilst also replacing his fingerless gloves more rugged Kevlar ones and placing wrist straps underneath. Along with this, he brought some other caving/hiking gear (I.e a safety harness along with multiple ropes, cables and hooks, some lightweight pulleys, a helmet with a 7-hour lamp attached, multiple torches and batteries to go with them etc)

Like Ash, Yellow had decided to go with a 'better safe than sorry' mindset. She bought both an undersuit, an over suit, the elbow and knee pads, the gloves and all. Along with all the gear that Ash had bought, Yellow decided to bring some first aid kits (for any injuries that the group, most likely Leaf, gets during the time they're in the cave); strap on face masks (in the event that a Pokémon releases a spore/powder attack in an enclosed area) and some dry bags and water bottles (to hold food, berries and water whilst they were down.)

Unlike the other two, Leaf decided to not bring an oversuit, saying that it looked a little too stupid for her. Instead of it, she had asked her mum to deliver a sleeveless black dress, one that reached halfway down her thighs (Green's original dress in Pokémon Adventures) and earned her a few stares from the other trainers passing by. Along with the dress, she had bought some Kevlar gloves with random flashy colours on them (they had enough money to waste so she decided to get the extra expensive, extra colourful one) and some glittery elbow pads (which cost way more than they should have.) She was wearing some of the hiking and caving equipment: the headlamp straps, the safety harness with ropes and hooks and even a rope ladder. The weirdest thing she bought were the fifty 2-hour torches (yes, 50) that filled her bag.

Ash and Yellow sighed together whilst they took in how little protective clothing Leaf was wearing and how much she spent on them. After the Gym Battles, the trio bought their individual gear by themselves with a limit of 500'000 each. Ash got a little worried when Leaf said she needed an extra 200'000 but he gave it to her anyway. Now, he wasted a couple hundred thousand for some torches and flashy gloves.

Ash laughed bitterly, "I'm not trusting you with buying things anymore. I know you're an expert at caving but you look like a reckless beginner. Yellow, do you want to have a bet? If Leaf hurts her legs along the way, I get 50'000 of her money. If she hurts herself anywhere else, you can get 50'000 of her money. Deal?"

Yellow took a quick look at Leaf, ignoring the annoyed look on the brunette's face, before agreeing, "Erm... Deal, I have a feeling she's going to hit her arm on a rock. I bought some masks for us three."

Leaf pouted as she took the black mask at placed it on her face, "So, what's this for? Looking like thieves and making ourselves look cool? I never needed these when I explored the ruins in Celestic Town.

"In case a Pokémon uses Stun Spore, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder or anything else on us," Yellow pointed, strapping her own black mask on her face.

"Are we going to go in there or not?" Ash asked since they had been standing in front of the entrance for a few minutes, "C'mon!"

And so the trio took their first step into Mount Moon, ready to take on whatever challenges they'd come across during the week or two of hiking that they would have to go through in order to make it to Cerulean City.

* * *

 **I hope you've enjoyed this gym battle and the two extra battles I put after it. If you're wondering why I've been putting a few more battles in each chapter, I'm putting more battles since there aren't going to be many for two or so chapters so I wanted to give you enough of them now to keep anyone who enjoys the battles satisfied. Bye guys, see ya next week!**


	7. Mount Moon pt 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon since that belongs to Nintendo**

So, Mount Moon... I've had this chapter planned when I began this story and posted the first chapter and we've finally reached it. I hope you enjoyed!

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic speech_ ' = Telepathy

* * *

"So, are going to head down before heading up to the peak or head up before going underground?" Ash asked the group as they walked through the rocky tunnels, using their torches to look around in the darkness.

"Downwards, that's where all the good metals and items are. I've heard that there was a failed shipment of TMs that got lost in the lower floor of Mount Moon," Leaf said before also pointing out that there probably wasn't going to be a lot of things at the peak.

With all three of the trio agreeing, the group walked around the ground floor of the cave, looking for the first hole in the ground that they could climb down. Ash, Leaf and Yellow all knew that they were probably going to be in this cave for at least a week so they tried to make sure they had some sort of topic as they walked.

"If there's a Clefairy or a Jigglypuff, I'd probably catch one of those. They're both Fairy-types which make things interesting, what are Fairy-types weak to?" Leaf said the first topic that everyone had thought of: the Pokémon they might catch.

"They have a two times weakness to Steel-type and Poison-type attacks. I think Jigglypuff is a Normal-Fairy Dual-type whilst Clefairy is a pure Fairy-type. Both are stallers with a high base HP so they'd probably go well with your battle style." Ash answered before pondering which Pokémon he might catch, "Clefairy and Clefable have large movepools (which means they'll have a lot of type coverage) so I think they can be a fun addition to my team. They have Flamethrower, **Fire Punch** and **Fire Blast** for Grass-types, Bug-types, Steel-types and Ice-types; Ice Beam, Ice Punch and Blizzard for Ground-types, Flying-types and Dragon-types along with any Grass-types where Fire-type attacks aren't super effective; Thunderbolt, Thunder Punch and Thunder for Water-types and Flying-types if they aren't weak to Ice-type moves; Psychic and Zen Headbutt for Fighting-types and Poison-types; Water Pulse for Rock-types and any Ground or Fighting-types that take neutral damage to other types; **Shadow Ball** for Ghost-types and Psychic-types. Then there are all the other attacks that I can't remember and all of those high damage attacks like **Hyper Beam**. They would be a good starter for any tournament battle."

"I don't know if I want to catch any Pokémon at all... Well, maybe if I connect with any of them but I think Chuchu will be enough for a while, " Yellow said, causing Chuchu to give the girl a delighted squeal, "Oh, I see a hole over there."

Ash and Leaf followed Yellow before getting their torches and focusing them down the hole. The drop wasn't that deep, only two or three metres at most. Leaf dropped some of the rope ladders down before stepping on the top of the ladder that lay on the ground floor.

Ash climbed down, lightly hopping off of the ladder and keeping it stable from the bottom so that Yellow could climb down. Once Yellow had made it down, Leaf kicked the ladder down.

"Erm... Leaf. You kicked the ladder down, how are you..." Ash stopped himself as he saw Leaf take a few steps back before doing a light jump down the hole and landing with a roll, almost perfectly hoping down with little noise, "H-How did you do that?"

Yellow also seemed intrigued by Leaf's jump, "You did it almost silently. Completely quietly. That must take a lot of practice, do you jump down random holes often?"

Leaf looked a little shocked by herself before giving a light smile, "Oh, that was nothing. I used to explore the caves near Celestic Town, I learned how to do it quietly so I wouldn't disturb any Pokémon."

Both Ash and Leaf raised an eyebrow with the blonde girl asking, "Are you... Lying? Your nose is flaring slightly."

"There's a little dust in my nose from the roll," Leaf said, no flaring nose like Yellow had said.

Yellow still looked sceptical but shrugged and continued the earlier topic, "I don't really mind what Pokémon it is but the only two Pokémon I've ever truly connected with were Chuchu and Kitty. Chuchu is my best friend and Kitty was a Caterpie that helped me bond with the rest of the Pokémon in the forest."

"You never know, Yellow," Ash said, scratching his Pikachu's chin, "I never expected to meet Pikachu or Riolu but now they're my best friends."

After saying this, the group sent out their Pokémon to walk with them. Bagon and Riolu were in front of the group, conversing about their evolved forms and how it would feel to be in a new body. Pikachu and Chuchu were both walking slightly ahead of their trainers, both of which noted that their electric-types were holding hands (or paws in this case.) Bulbasaur and Nidoran walked in silence whilst Spearow hovered above them and talked to Pidgeotto, intrigued by how the other side saw Spearows and Fearows.

Ash, Leaf and Yellow had finished their original topic of which Pokémon they might capture. Instead of it, they now talked about what they were hoping to find. Yellow wanted to experience caving as she had never been in one before. Ash was in the same boat as Yellow, never adventuring this deep into a cave. Leaf, on the other hand, was an experienced caver (using that as an excuse for putting flashy gloves over protective clothing) and was hoping that there were a lot of items in the cave.

"Heh, you guys haven't experienced the greatest part of caving or whatever Ash called it," Leaf said, a smile on her face as she started explaining some of the best parts of caving, "Trust me, people leave stuff in caves all the time. It's the dumb and the clueless that gives us adventurers incentive to keep on going. And we can't forget that failed shipment, we could find some overpowered TMs to help us breeze through our second Gym Battle. And let's not forget the fossils, evolutionary stones and the attack-boosting plates that some people have found in the lower parts of the cave. There are so many things that we can't buy with money like all of the rarer evolutionary stones and some rare Pokémon. Trust me, this is going to be one of the best weeks of your life."

To both Ash and Yellow's surprise, Leaf didn't say anything about conning or even anything remotely Leaf-like. She just seemed like a young girl enjoying a hobby, no aggression or manipulation. Just contentment and some happiness at sharing a hobby with friends.

"You know, Leaf. You seem so happy, you aren't talking about the things you talk about. And you seem way less... Mean," Ash said, scratching the back of his head sheepishly, "Y'know, it doesn't seem like how you've been for the past 3 or so weeks. You seem like the Leaf that I knew when I was younger and on the first day of our journey."

Yellow agreed with Ash, "Yeah, you seem so uncharacteristically happy. Normally, whenever you're happy, it's to do with money or something to do with money. So... What's making you so happy?"

Leaf did a light chuckle and scratched the back of her head, "Have I really made myself look that money-centred? I mean money is the world's greatest weapon and all, it's the most important resource in the world, to be honest, but I'm not that focused on it. I guess this cave is just reminding me of the first time I entered a cave and how much fun I had... Back when moving to Sinnoh was a good idea."

Ash gave Leaf a quizzical look, "What do you mean 'Back when moving to Sinnoh was a good idea.'

"In the first few months to a year, there was this huge new place to explore. There was a huge city and endless caves and tunnels to explore," Leaf said, ducking below a stalactite before continuing, "But after all that hype was over, there was really nothing interesting to do and I just began missing Kanto and all of my friends back in Pallet Town... Especially you, Ash. Nothing that big."

Ash smiled, the fact that Leaf had missed him was a heart-warming fact, "I missed you as well, you know how annoying Gary was when you weren't there."

Leaf did a soft smile, "Awww, I missed you a lot, Ash. But you still haven't bought me that welcome present, it's not nice to keep a lady waiting."

Ash groaned, Leaf just had to ruin it by being her usual mischievous self. But then again, wasn't that one of the qualities he liked the most.

Yellow had been silent whilst they had been talking but she couldn't take the awkwardness anymore and blurt out, "Erm... Can you stop doing all that romance? Chuchu and Pikachu are already making me feel like a third wheel."

Both pairs froze, Ash and Leaf becoming silent and looking away from each other with a light blush on both of their faces whilst Pikachu and Chuchu released each other and ran back to their trainers.

Yellow looked apologetic when everyone said sorry, she didn't want to make everyone else feel awkward and ruin one of their moments just because she was feeling awkward.

"Hey Riolu, do you sense any other living things around us? It's pretty quiet down here," Ash asked, hoping to see if they would encounter anyone else in the deeper sections of the cave.

Riolu closes his eyes before opening them again and saying, ' _There are a bunch of people above us, emotions vary, and there are three other people that are on the same floor as us, friendly enough. I sense a large group of Pokémon fifteen or so metres down, most of them are pretty excited for something.'_

Ash echoed the information back to them before jokingly adding, "Maybe they've found some treasure!"

Leaf and Yellow laughed, lightening the mood and breaking the awkwardness that Yellow had created.

Said blonde girl decided to ask her friends for some stories to pass the time, she decided to go first, "Well, I've shown you guys the Swarm Stone but I haven't told you how I got it. I think it was last year, Chuchu and I were going on our errands. Helping bring food for the baby Pokémon, settle any disputed between Pokémon, heal up any Pokémon that were hurt in the dispute, check on the leaders of each species, make sure that they aren't conspiring against the other leaders etc. Whilst I was finishing, there was a large scale war between the Pidgey in one area and the Spearow from another. The Pidgey, as well as their evolutionary forms, had found the Swarm Stone near the west part of the forest so they brought it to the leaders to keep as a trophy of sorts. The Spearow liked the large piece of amber so both species fought to see who would keep the Swarm Stone. I'm sure your Pidgeotto remembers, Ash."

Ash's Pidgeotto chirped and nodded, "(That was a fun fight, I gained a bunch of experience from that one!"

"After the battle was proving to not get any results, I told Chuchu to **ThunderShock** to stop everyone. The Pokémon in the battle were unable to decide who would take the Swarm Stone so I took it to stop any further fights. I'm ultimately the neutral side in every dispute so I just placed the rock in one of my secret areas and kept it there. All in all, I guess nothing that bad happened but it was still a story."

Ash decided to go next, "Pikachu is going to hate me for this but I'll tell you all how we met. So, there was this one time where Pallet Town had suffered a power outage. Normally the backup power was generated by the Electric-types but one of Professor Oak's assistants went to feed them... Leaving the door open and allowing almost all of them to escape. The few that were left behind couldn't power everything back up so Gary, me and some of the other people from the town decided to try and look for them. I decided to look east of the lab and saw some lights in the forest. After running up to the lights, I saw a bunch of Electric-types (the Pikachu evolutionary family, the Electabuzz evolutionary family along with a few Magnemites and a Jolteon or two) trying to fight a group of Nidorino who's territory the Electric-types had stumbled on to. The Electric-types were doing pretty well until Pikachu (who been a Pichu at the time) tried to inflict some damage with **ThunderShock** only to be hit by **Double Kick.** Of course, that wouldn't have changed anything if Pikachu hadn't flew straight over the cliff like a pathetic rag doll."

"(I wasn't sent flying, and besides, I'm like two kilograms as a Pichu. That Nidorino was bound to throw me off!) Pikachu said angrily huffing a little as Ash continued the story.

"My inner hero decided to go jump off of that cliff to save Pikachu, unaware that I was probably going to have an early, heroic death. I started diving down, arms outstretched to reach Pichu, who already nearing the ground and ready to splat on the ground like paint..."

"Is that the end? How did you survive?" Leaf asked, clearly interested in how her friend was still alive and why his Pikachu wasn't six feet under, "Did someone save you? Did you do some weird aura magic trick thing? How did you survive, you broke your legs when I pushed you off of a one-metre drop... I'm sorry about that, by the way."

"Yeah, I remember that. I also remember you said that you would catch a Chansey to heal me back up and then you broke _your_ leg because you thought a Jigglypuff was a Happiny and fell off of the same one-metre drop. Then you got the bright idea to try and dive down a fifteen-metre drop head first. You're just lucky that there was a flock of Pidgeot that carried you to the ground and turned your death sentence into a broken leg," Ash said, enjoying his friend's death glare, "But anyway, I landed on a Snorlax. I still broke my legs but the Snorlax's trainer was kind enough to take me back to Pallet Town. Pikachu broke one of his front legs so I put him on my shoulder whilst the trainer helped me stay on his Dodrio. But anyway, Pikachu and I were placed in the same room so we talked to each other a lot whilst we were in bed. The hospital was actually where Pikachu started his ketchup addiction; he kept stealing it from a nurse with the same problem so if we blow a lot of money on ketchup, you know who to blame."

Pikachu scratched the back of his head sheepishly as Chuchu gave him a look of disappointment. He pulled a ketchup bottle out of Ash's bag and started spraying it in his mouth, retreating to the top of Ash's hard hat.

"Since I've told you how I met Pikachu, I might as well tell you how I met the others. Alright, I'll tell you Riolu's story next. I'm sure you know about egg moves, moves that can only be given to a Pokémon by their parents. Riolu was owned by a Pokémon Breeder who had been selling to Team Rocket, a Pokémon for the highest-ranking officers to use. Because of the fact that he was a Breeder, the man was able to make a lot of money from forcefully breeding a Lucario to other Pokémon and then breeding their offspring with another Pokémon for the next move-" Ash was quickly interrupted by Leaf who seemed puzzled by the breeding plan.

"So he just waited for each generation of Riolu to grow up and reproduce. That sounds like too long of a process. They would take a couple months to hatch an egg," Leaf said, seeing flaws in the Breeder's plans.

"That's because the way you said is too long of a process. The Pokémon Breeder had multiple Riolu at one given moment. When one Riolu laid an egg, there was a chance it was a male or female. If it was a female, they would carry the egg moves and were used to throw extra egg moves onto their offspring. If it was a male, they would be used to breed with a female who had different egg moves to them so that the offspring had the egg moves of both parents," Ash said, explaining how the Breeder actually passed down egg moves, "Riolu was one of lucky few who hadn't been forced to reproduce when the Breeder was caught. He was also one of the Riolu with the largest amount of total egg moves in his moveset. But anyway, let's get to the point where I come in."

Leaf looked at Ash with a disapproving glare, "Wow, Ashy. You were just talking about how Pokémon were forced to reproduce and how they were living horrible lives only to completely skip it and get to the part where you come in. Their lives matter, y'know."

"Jeez Leaf, it's just because I don't know anything else about what happened," Ash said, still seeing Leaf give him that disappointed glare, "Look, I'm sorry for phrasing that the wrong way but I only know what Riolu has told me. I'm really sorry!"

Leaf's glare softened as Ash tried to frantically apologise and the girl did a light laugh, "Alright fine, just don't be so disrespectful again. You were literally talking about one of the worst crimes in the world and then made it sound like you were more important than it. Go on, continue the story."

Ash sighed in relief before continuing, "So, this was around six months after I saved Pikachu and around a year and a half or so after you left. If you had been there it probably would have been a lot easier, you missed a lot of fun and crucial moments, Leaf. But anyway, I was still getting used to only having Gary as a person to talk to so I went to our little spot."

"The cliff where I forced you to watch the sunset with me? Awww, you really did miss me," Leaf said, hugging Ash and seeming to completely forget that she had been glaring daggers at him a minute ago.

Yellow was clearly annoyed by the fact that Leaf kept interrupting the story since she was crossing her arms and that her face was absent from the almost naive amount of kindness and happiness that was usually on it, "Leaf, can you please stop! You keep interrupting Ash's story. It's just annoying now!"

Ash and Leaf froze at Yellow's outburst, wasn't Yellow meant to be the calm one? Or at least, the calmest one. Both of them apologised, scratching the back of their heads with a sheepish smile.

Yellow sighed in relief, "Alright, continue."

"Erm, so I went to our spot which was this large cliff edge to the east of Pallet Town. It was only me and Pikachu (who was an actual Pikachu by then) lying down and talking about life. I would ask a question and he would listen whilst he drank ketchup so it was a fun time when he eventually started choking on his chosen beverage," Ash snickered as the mouse gave him a soft punch to the face, "I'm sorry, Pi. You were always doing stupid things in here stories. Anyway, we just sat there watching the birds fly by and enjoying the relatively peaceful noise around us. Except it was completely broken, we heard the sound of an engine. There were Spearow, Fearow, swarms of Rattata and Raticate all swarming around this one small object. Because of my instincts, I started running towards the engine noise, not really sure of what I would do when I finally got there. The run was actually a pretty long one so Pikachu and I had to take a few breaks during the run."

"Wait, he didn't get away? I thought you said he had a car," Leaf said, only for Yellow to sigh in disappointment.

"Let me just finish the story, Leaf. Once we got to the van, we saw one of the largest Pokémon I've ever seen. There was this _huge_ Tyrannitar that was trying to defend itself against the swarms of Pokémon that were attacking. I couldn't even see a single part of the Tyrannitar except for the top spikes on his head since the birds that were swarming around it completely covered it. The Tyrannitar was the first thing I noticed, the second was the large truck with a cage on the back full of Riolu as well a few other Pokémon. The key was still in the engine whilst the driver of the car was using some of his other Pokémon to fight off the swarm. Since there was no one near the car, I decided to sneak into the driver seat (which wasn't that hard) and then, with no practice whatsoever, decided to floor it to try and escape the Breeder whilst keeping all the Riolu safe. Surprisingly, actually driving a car isn't as hard as they make it out to be. But, then again, I was only going straight and the van was an automatic engine so I didn't have to do any of the gearbox stuff. As you can tell, I didn't crash into anything... Or at least anything that would have killed me, I'm pretty sure I hit some loose rocks as well as a thin tree."

Yellow waved her hand, "Just interrupt, Leaf."

Leaf stuck her tongue out, "You're the one interrupting, Yellow! But thank you... Now, how did you not go splat on the window? I doubt you had the forward thinking to put on your seatbelt!"

"I was wearing a seatbelt, I wasn't that stupid! Anyways, after driving a large distance from the Tyrannitar and their trainer, I started to search the van for any keys, something you probably would have done way better than me. Anyway, I couldn't find the key (even though it was still in the car) and decided that had to break open the wires. I decided to break open solid steel wires despite having literally nothing to cut it with," Ash said, scratching the back of his head as he realised how idiotic of a plan he had, "First, I had to settle them down when I went to look for any wire cutters or a saw or something along those lines. Pikachu was scouring around the area with me, looking for anything that was remotely usable to cut the wire. In the end, we only ended up with some sharp rocks and a bunch of sticks. So I made a plan to break the wires, I used the sticks as well as Pikachu's **ThunderShock** to start a fire which I used to heat up the metal. Then I asked the Riolu to start breaking the metal bars, they were clearly much stronger than I was even if they were unable to use their attacks.

Leaf interrupted again, "So you just sat there and did nothing."

"Of course he didn't, Ash is the person that helps someone for no reason whatsoever," Yellow said, defending Ash, "Aren't you meant to be his best friend, you should know how much of a kind soul Ash is. Why do you keep nitpicking the way Ash talks?"

The brunette looked confused before deciding on her reason, "I just can't stand Ash talking for so long. Like, if I don't pause him, his text would fill the phone's screen with a huge block of text."

Yellow raised an eyebrow, "What do you mean 'his text would fill the phone's screen with a huge block of text'? Where do phones come in to this?"

Leaf sweatdropped as she realised something, "I don't know."

That being said, whilst they were trying to escape with the rocks, Pikachu and I weren't just sitting around doing nothing. At first, I was planning on returning to Pallet Town in order to ask for help freeing the Riolu but I realised that we had left tire tracks whilst we had been driving so it wasn't going to be long before the Breeder made it to where the Riolu were being kept. In other words, we had to find another way to open the bars easily so we made plan number two: place berries on the bars and get some Rattata to bite straight through the bars."

Yellow nodded, causing Leaf to pout and shake her head, "Oh c'mon, Yellow! When I interrupt Ash, you're always disappointed at me. When you interrupt Ash, it's completely fine. That isn't fair!"

Yellow did the same sigh as she normally did, "But I was silent, I didn't break the flow of the story... Like you did, right now."

Leaf pouted, "So what? We all know how this story was going to end, the Rattata bite through the bars and the free Riolu thank Ash. Ash's Riolu becomes friends with Ash and that is how they met, right Ash?"

Ash continued again, "You were close but you missed the greatest part, the all-out war that happened once the Rattata broke them out. You see, some thought that the Rattata were biting them free so that they could fight, others realised that the Rattata broke them free since I placed berries on them. So the aggravated group of Riolu started attacking the Rattata and, I'm sad to say this, but my Riolu was one of those aggressive Riolu got into a fight with the Rattata. I asked Pikachu to shock them all to try and stop them but that just caused the Riolu and the Rattata to start chasing us instead."

Pikachu started shaking a little, recalling the chase that Ash was talking about, ' _Oh God, I've never run for that long in my entire life. I bet if we ran that far everyday, we would have ran across all of Kanto in a month._ '

"I completely agree with you, buddy. Anyway, Pikachu had to shock them away from us in defense so that we weren't bit or beaten to death. Pikachu had to keep shocking them to keep them away but we were able to get to this one spot where the Riolu were unable to reach us. After that, I started to reason with Riolu and Rattata and diffuse the situation which caused everyone to calm down. With a cool head, the Pokémon started to leave the area though. Like Leaf said, Riolu became friends with me after he followed me back. I've already told you about Bagon, Leaf. But for Yellow, during Professor Oak's Summer Camp-"

Leaf decided to interrupt, "He went to a camp and Professor Oak let him use a Bagon. Some poacher stuff happened and boom, Ash and Bagon connected. Now, onto my story-!"

"Erm, Leaf," Yellow asked, stopping Leaf from talking.

"What, Yellow!" Leaf screamed whilst turning around, irked at the fact that Yellow was interrupting her despite being against her interrupting Ash, "Don't be a hypocrite! You said to keep quiet during stories so why do you- Ow!"

"That," Yellow said as Leaf crashed into a wall, "We ran into a dead end, I was just pointing that out to you."

"Wait a minute," Leaf said, knocking on the stone before pulling what looked like a large nail (the metal kind) and a hammer before hammering the nail and smiling a little as she stepped hearing a chipping noise, "The wall is hollow. Bulbasaur, use **Vine Ram** to break it open!"

"Riolu, use **Force Palm** to help break it!" Ash called out, hoping that there would be something interesting on the other side.

With Riolu and Bulbasaur's combined efforts, the wall broke down and the group lightly hopped over the shards of stone that littered the floor. Ash and Yellow quickly brushed the shards to the side so that no one accidentally steps on them whilst Leaf chipped into a rock with a shiny yellow stone in the middle. Leaf quickly showed the group her findings: a Thunderstone that Pikachu or Chuchu can use in order to evolve into Raichu.

When Ash and Yellow asked their respective Electric-type, both Pikachu shook their head. Ash decided to hold on to the Thunderstone and place it into a pocket that Pikachu wouldn't accidentally touch when he looked for ketchup in Ash's bag.

The group continued on their way, Leaf deciding to start one of her stories, "So, I should probably tell you guys my most interesting caving tale. Whilst I was in Sinnoh, I was able to explore the ruins near Celestic Town for fun. But around five months after I first moved in, I got bored and decided to look little deeper into the ruins for anything that I hadn't seen before. Whilst I was looking around, I found that there was a new hole in one of the tunnels, meaning that something had broken the wall. I decided to check it out, taking a torch that I had bought from one of the shops close by. After a few steps in, I found a nice cave with a lot of weird looking rocks. I wasn't able to identify most of the rocks but I thought it was a cool discovery so I decided to make it my own. I brought some plushies, a small rug and some chairs before making a nice little area for me to relax. But, like all good things in the world, it had to end. Turns out someone had noticed me going into the cave and followed me in. However, this idiot that followed me accidentally caused a rock to block the hole, causing us to be stuck in the cave."

Ash already knew how this was going to end, "You made him break you guys free whilst you sat on a rock."

"Wrong, I sent him down one of the tunnels that I had explored. He kept blaming me for us being stuck in there so I sent him down a long tunnel to waste his time. I was going to lock him in there but if he ever came out, I'd probably be in trouble so I left him down there by himself... Oh, you would have locked him down if you could have!" Leaf said, moticing Ash and Yellow's shocked looks.

Ash was still shocked but was able to say, "No, no we wouldn't."

"Shut up, Ashy! You're not always the hero! Anyway, if you are wondering how I got out, the guy dropped his hammer and nail. I chipped my way through the thin walls and left the cave. A little later, I brought Cynthia into the cave, she said that I had found some kind of catacomb for Pokémon or what is more easily summed up as a fossil hunter's paradise. There were quite a few Rampardos and Bastiodon skeletons, which weren't that surprising, but what really made it my most interesting tale was the fact that I had found two Claw Fossils (which are revived into an Anorith) and a Root Fossil (which is revived into Lileep.) In other words, I found rare fossils that most scientists thought were only found in Hoenn. They didn't give me any credit though, the guy that I sent down a tunnel was given that. Basically, I should've been a millionaire, " Leaf said, scratching the back of her head as she mumbled, "That would've been helpful."

The trio continued on their path, passing several holes on their way through. Leaf said that they would check them all once they had finished the current floor. A comfortable silence fell on the group, each of them focusing on the caves around them. Everyone enjoyed the silence, having fun going through the cave with their friends.

* * *

Leaf sighed as they met another dead end. Leaf looked at her Pokénav, they had been exploring this floor for around eight hours. Those eight hours were filled with random talks like how they take care of their Pokémon, all of whom were in their Pokéballs with the exception of Chuchu, Pikachu and Riolu. The brunette took a quick glance behind her, smiling as she saw Ash and Yellow were enjoying themselves. She looked through her bag for a little notebook she had been using to track how many holes they had passed whilst they were on this floor.

"So, Leaf. Which hole are we going to take?" Ash asked, knowing that they were spending a lot of time on one floor when there were countless other ones to explore.

"We'll take the last hole we saw, we'll check the tunnels under there before we take the other holes," Leaf answered, rolling her shoulders before turning around and walking back to the last hole that they had spotted, "So Yellow, something I've been thinking about lately is the fact that Ash and I are both aiming to battle in the Indigo League. If it comes down to it, who would you be rooting for? I mean, it's clear that I'm going to be victorious but who would you actually be voting for? Are you going to vote for your teacher or the person that actually cares about you?"

Yellow gave a sheepish smile and twiddled with her fingers, trying to see if she could outlast Leaf. They were nearing the hole, hopefully, she didn't have to make a decision. It was probably Leaf's phrasing but she would probably root for Ash, Leaf was nice and all but Ash was an easy person to root for. After all, he was a kind, helpful boy who cared a out everyone else's feelings

"You'd root for Ash, wouldn't you? I probably should have phrased it better. If I said the person that went looking for when they thought you went missing, you would have chosen me, right?" Leaf said, a completely passive look in her face.

Yellow sighed, confirming Leaf's thoughts as they started shining their lights down the hole to see if they could make it down with the ladder. The hole was kind of deep, it was only five or so metres deep so the rope ladder would make it down there without a problem.

Like last time, Ash went down before Yellow and Leaf followed. This time Leaf didn't jump down saying that she saw something sharp on the ground that she would rather not have lodged in her back. Once the trio made it down, they looked in the tunnels only to see that there were to Clefairy and a Jigglypuff a metre down. The three Fairy-types clearly weren't expecting anyone to come down the hole since they were frozen solid for a few seconds before the one of the Clefairy started sprinting away, a scared expression on his face. The other two Pokémon glanced at each other, a mischievous smirk in their eyes as they followed the scared Clefairy.

Leaf smirked as she saw the Pokémon start to run, bolting after them and telling the others to follow. After Ash had done that little speech on how good Clefairy was, she really wanted one. The Jigglypuff that came along was also pretty neat, she did say that she wanted either a Clefairy or a Jigglypuff when they first entered so why not get both. She had also noted the look between the two Pokémon; she knew that the look they gave was the look of a person plotting to take someone down. If these two wanted to try and challenge her, she was going to outsmart them in every way.

Ash was running behind her, clearly confused at Leaf's interest for those three Pokémon, "Leaf, what are you doing? You're going to scare them away, are you catching them or not?"

The brunette smiled at the idea of catching them. If they proved to be a challenge, she might offer to catch them but she was ready for whatever they were going to throw at her. She tried to remember any attacks that Clefairy and Jigglypuff might have: **Sing** was probably going to be a common attack along with **Wake-up Slap** , she was sure that Jigglypuff learnt **Rollout** at an early level, **Double Slap** would be a good one.

Leaf started hearing some kind of soothing noise as she ran, she was right about **Sing** then. She covered her ears and told the others to do the same. Due to the fact that the group were covering their ears, the trio and their Pokemon had to rely on the headlamps to narrowly avoid the small pink ball that sped past them.

Ash noticed that the soothing noise had died down, "Pikachu, use **Electro Ball** on Jigglypuff. Riolu, **Quick Attack** into **Force Palm** for Clefairy. Then knock it down with **Blaze Kick**!"

Pikachu leapt before twisting in the air to lob an orb of electricity at Jigglypuff. The orb sped through the air and struck Jigglypuff from behind, causing the Pokémon to hop out of its roll and use **Disarming Voice** to throw Pikachu off.

Riolu, on the other hand, broke into a sprint as he ran up the as a white blur. Clefairy was prepared for this, its two arms were glowing as the Pokémon tried to counter the attack with **Double Slap**. Riolu's **Force Palm** overpowered the first **Double Slap** before the Fighting-type jumped out of the way of the second **Double Slap** , covering his leg in flames as he did an axe kick to Clefairy's head.

Ash was about to issue another attack before Jigglypuff rolled past them, catching up to Riolu and inflating into a large ball to completely trample over him. This allowed Clefairy to escape the fight and start running ahead. After Clefairy had a nice lead, Jigglypuff inflated a little more to completely block the tunnel.

"Pikachu, **Buzzsaw Tail** to knock some wind out of Jigglypuff. Riolu, use **Sky Uppercut** before using **Blaze Kick** to do the same!" Ash called out, seeing that Jigglypuff had to inhale a lot of air to inflate.

"Bulbasaur, use **Vine Ram** to keep pushing it forward!" Leaf called out, they had to make sure that Clefairy wasn't running away.

A loud shout came from behind Jigglypuff's inflated body since Clefairy was using **Disarming Voice** to try and slow Pikachu, Riolu and Bulbasaur down. Even though the **Disarming Voice** was doing damage to their Pokémon, it meant that Clefairy hadn't run that far which also meant that Leaf still had a chance of catching said Fairy-type Pokémon.

Pikachu ignored the sharp pain in his ears and started sprinting on the ground before falling into a roll. The mouse used his tail to hop into the air and cut just below the Normal-Fairy Pokémon's mouth. Riolu rode on Bulbasaur's **Vine Ram** , jumping off just before impact to throw an uppercut at the pink Fairy-type Pokémon. The Fighting-type fell on one of its legs and throwing a blazing back heel at Jigglypuff.

Jigglypuff shrunk to its normal size, causing the Pokémon to start breathing heavily as it tried to regain all the air it had lost. The Pokémon was preparing itself to fight a futile battle against them only to feel rejuvenated by bright pink sparks floating around them. Clefairy had their hands outstretched, a pink orb in front of them which quickly dispersed into the bright pink sparks.

Ash, Leaf and Yellow were all prepared for another attack only for the Balloon Pokémon to use **Rollout** to try and escape. Clefairy hopped onto the rolling ball, running against the roll so she could continue to face the group and use **Disarming Voice**.

"Pikachu, **ThunderShock** to throw Jigglypuff off! Riolu, tail them so that they don't get away!" Ash called out, the two Normal-types were a pretty good pair for double battles. Leaf would probably catch both of them though, they fit in nicely with her playful personality and would probably clash with his less mischievous and more... Boring would probably be the best word for it. It's not like he was the main character of anything, Leaf would fit in that role way better than he ever could.

"Bulbasaur, grab Jigglypuff with **Vine Whip and** slam them into the walls. That should kill their momentum so we can catch up and take them down!" Leaf called out, smiling as she knew that they were running through an unknown tunnel and chasing someone on their home ground. There was no way they could catch the Pokémon this easily without something happening. The brunette picked up her Grass-type starter so he only used energy on the vines.

Pikachu's cheeks lit up with electricity before the mouse aimed the energy at Jigglypuff, expecting to throw the Normal-type off and cause them to crash. Pikachu sprinted closer, releasing more electricity and causing some of the sparks to hit Riolu, who had rushed past with **Quick Attack** and **Agility** to keep up with the rolling pink ball, and Bulbasaur's vines, causing the Grass-type to wince slightly as he felt the electricity tingle through his vines. Pikachu released the **ThunderShock** before scratching the back of his head sheepishly due to hitting his allies.

The attack hit, causing the duo of pink Pokénon to swerve uncontrollably. They were barely able to not smash into one of the walls, luck on their sides as they would pull away from the edges of the tunnel with only a few centimetres of air between them and the stone that would probably cause a few bruises if they crashed. Clefairy started sweating a little, Jigglypuff didn't have to worry about any broken bones but the Fairy Pokémon was definitely going to need a little more than **Heal Pulse** to get out of that without a scar.

Bulbasaur's vines sped past Pikachu before staying near the Clefairy and Jigglypuff that wildly swerving wildly, waiting for the perfect opportunity to quickly grab the Balloon Pokémon. Due to the two focusing on not crashing, Bulbasaur spotted a great moment to quickly wrap his vines around the pink ball and swing her straight into the wall. Although, he may have thrown them a _little_ too hard since they went straight through the wall and fell into the darkness.

Riolu was barely able to stop himself from falling down the hole and into the dark void that was in front of him. The rest of his group caught up, all surprised (and a little shaken) by the two Pokénon falling down at a fatal height. The group focused all of their lights down the hole, barely seeing the bottom of the hole. Leaf estimated that it was a twelve or so metre drop, high enough that they would probably break a few bones or worse if they jumped.

"Erm... Do you think they survived that fall?" Yellow asked it was a pretty deep fall so they could have fallen to their doom, "Y-you know... What if we just k-killed two innocent Pokémon?"

The trio decided that they should probably get down as soon as possible. The ladder was only two metres short, not a huge drop but they could mess it up if they messed up. Ash pulled out one of the ropes and wrapped it around a pulley that they had brought. Once attaching the rope to Ash via the safety harness, they lowered him down before doing the same with Yellow and Leaf (Riolu having to pull the rope for Leaf since she was the last human down.)

After Riolu threw the pulley down, Ash recalled the Fighting-type. Everyone shone their lights around the area, looking for Jigglypuff and Clefairy. The group looked around the huge room that they had lowered themselves into. It had taken five or so minutes to lower everyone down so the duo could have already escaped by now.

Riolu had been trying to sense any emotions that could be coming from the two Fairy-type Pokémon, although he hadn't been able to sense anything close to them. At least, that was until he sensed two drowsy Pokémon in the large cavern that they were in. He did a small growl before pointing towards the two tired Pokémon.

"Riolu says they're over there, " Ash said, pointing his torch at one of the further parts of the cavern that his headlamp couldn't reach, "I'm surprised they haven't ran yet."

Leaf turned her torch off before walking almost silently towards the Jigglypuff and Clefairy, easily sneaking up to where Riolu was pointing at. She readied two Pokéballs to throw at them before her eyes widened as a sharp noise threw her balance off and caused her to fall over.

The two Pokémon quickly started sprinting from their hiding spot, running as fast as their stubby legs would take them so that they could get to another hiding spot. Jigglypuff started rolling towards one of the exits to the cavern whilst Clefairy hopped on and used **Disarming Voice**.

"Bulbasaur, use **Leech Vines**!" Leaf called out, throwing Bulbasaur's Pokéball as she got onto her feet, "I'm not letting you guys go! I've put in way too much effort to give up!"

Bulbasaur sprayed a bunch of seeds out of his bulb before whipping a bunch of vines through the cloud. After the vines were covered by seeds, they whipped through the air and were able to wrap around Clefairy's leg. Jigglypuff noticed this and hopped out of their roll to use **Sing**. However, they were already to late since the vines crept around Clefairy's body and caused it to be covered by smaller vines, which completely restricted the Fairy-types movement though they didn't start glowing like it usually did.

"Bulbasaur, now go for Jigglypuff!" Leaf called out before rolling her shoulders as she realised their chase was coming to an end, "You two gave a good fight but I think I've won. You guys have given the best fight I've had so far, I want to guys to know that you can become even stronger if you join me. So after all the stalling, go Pokéball!"

Leaf grinned as she spotted Clefairy's small smile at her praise. When the Pokéball sucked them in, it did its usual three shakes before doing a soft click to indicate that it had been captured. Jigglypuff looked a little disheartened that Clefairy had left them but still tried to run.

She was able to avoid the first few whips but, after seeing that Clefairy had already been captured, she moved more slowly and became more predictable. Once she was wrapped by a bunch of energy-sucking vines, she felt a small orb hit her head and she was transported into the Pokéball. The Fairy-Normal dual-type didn't resist the Pokéball and was captured by Leaf.

The brunette smiled as she held both of the Pokéballs in her hand, enlarging the Pokéballs in her hand in order to release the two Pokémon out of their Pokéballs. Clefairy smiled as the Pokédex beam went onto her whilst Jigglypuff pouted as she was last.

 **Clefairy, the Fairy Pokémon and the evolved form of Cleffa. Bathed in moonlight, its wings glow faintly. Without even flapping, Clefairy rises into the air where it dances around. It is quite popular amongst men and women, young and old, due to their adorable appearance and behaviour. This Clefairy is a female who is gentle, level 23 with the ability Magic Guard. It has the following moves: Disarming Voice, Encore, Growl, Pound, Spotlight, Sing, Double Slap, Defense Curl, Follow Me, Bestow and Wake-up Slap. It also has the following egg move: Heal Pulse.**

 **Jigglypuff, the Balloon Pokémon and the evolved form of Igglybuff. Jigglypuff possesses a vocal range that exceeds twelve octaves but each individual's singing skill depends on its own efforts. This Jigglypuff is a female who is sassy, level 21 with the ability Competitive. It has the following moves: Sing, Defense Curl, Pound, Play Nice, Disarming Voice, Disable, Double Slap and Rollout.**

She was broken out of her thoughts by the two Pokémon rushing out of the cavern, seeming to be late for an event. The trio and their Pokémon tailed them, not letting the two Fairy-types out of their sight. They ran for quite a few minutes until they ended up at a large drop. The two Pokémon sat down at the very edge of the drop, the others copying with Ash in the middle with Leaf and Yellow on both sides.

The two Pokémon seemed anxious for something, waiting for something to happen at the bottom of the drop. Everyone waited in silence until a loud shout broke them out of it. Everyone looked down, a little startled by the loud cry.

A Clefable and a Wigglytuff both came out of one of the lower entrances with a line of Clefairy and Jigglypuff following them. The group waited for something else to happen, what they didn't expect was the two species to hold hands and dance. The pink Pokémon all held hands and spun in circles as a full moon shone down on them, all cheering happily as a Jigglypuff and a Clefairy walked close to the stone. Both Pokémon had one of their evolved forms smiling at them as they both touched the stone and were covered by a bright light.

"It's beautiful," Leaf said, breaking the silence, "The Clefairy and Jigglypuff hold a celebration for the Pokémon evolving. It's amazing, truly amazing!"

Ash nodded, "Yeah, it truly is amazing. Isn't that what you always used to say when we watched the sunset together at our spot? You always called it amazing."

Yellow seemed to step back. She ruined their little moment last time so she would watch from a distance so she wouldn't do it again. The blonde was a believer in 'a match made in heaven' and Ash and Leaf completely fit the bill.

"Yeah, it was how I always described the sunset... Ash, do you remember what I always used to do after the sunset?" Leaf said, a smirk on her face as she thought of a great way to tease Ash.

Like she had expected, Ash started blushing, "W-what d-do you..."

The boy became quiet as Leaf wrapped her arms around Ash, tightly hugging the twelve-year-old. Leaf moved a little as she saw that Ash's cheeks were a deep shade of red. She pressed her lips on the Ash's, tightening the hug. The two stayed in the embrace for a minute or so before the girl pushed herself off.

"W-what..." Ash muttered, a deep blush on his face as he tried to realise what was happening. He remembered what would happen on the cliff, but it wasn't like how she had done it. When they hugged on the cliff, the girl would have kissed him on the cheek which already made him blush. Leaf probably didn't know it but she was recreating the basis of his crush and strengthening it way more than she should.

"Awww, Ashy! You blushed the same way you used to on the cliff. You did remember, didn't you!" Leaf said, a smirk on her face as she saw Ash's deep blush. What she didn't realise was that her own blush was just as dark, if not darker.

* * *

 **I hope you guys enjoyed the kiss at the end. This is kind of filler but there is a bunch of stories which I hope have satisfied you. The next chapter is going to be the real meaty stuff.**

 **This chapter took a bunch of effort to keep under 9k words. See you in the next chapter!**


	8. Mini Chapter 1: Motherly love

**Sorry for the long delay. I originally had the next chapter ready to be posted around the end of August but some events occurred and I had to delay it for a week. During this time, I read the final version of the chapter and something didn't feel right. To be honest, the chapter seemed a little too rushed so I wanted to rewrite the entire thing from scratch with the same core plot but with different writing and more effort put in.**

 **Just some last things before I begin, I'm going to try and go back to the chapter per month rule (even though you have a feeling that I won't be able to follow that through) so don't expect the next chapter next week.**

 **But anyway, since it's against the rules to post a chapter that is only Author's Note, I decided to make a little mini-chapter that takes place during Mount Moon. So I hope you enjoy this little chapter.**

* * *

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic speech_ ' = Telepathy

Leaf inwardly groaned as she sat up from her sleeping bag with a bored expression. As she quietly got out of the sleeping bag, she made sure to take Bulbasaur's Pokéball as well as Jigglypuff's. The brunette couldn't help but form a small smile on her lips as she grabbed the Normal-type's Pokéball out of her bag. Over the course of their mountain adventure, Jigglypuff became a second Bulbasaur; the pink Pokémon was someone Leaf could relate to since both shared a mischievous, fighter's attitude that gave them an emotional connection.

Leaf got up relatively quietly, checking to make sure that she hadn't woken up Ash and Yellow. Both Pokémon trainers were deep asleep, both with some drool slipping out of their mouths. Leaf shook her head, she didn't want to wake them up whilst they were asleep so she decided to do a little reminiscing on her journey.

The brunette checked her PokéNav, it was October now, so it had been around a month since she had started her little journey. She checked the date just to see how close to a month it was and, to her surprise, she found out that she it was the day after the one month anniversary.

Also to her surprise, it appeared that she was close enough to one of the cellular towers so she could call her mother to inform them on this little milestone. A few buttons and a light press on the volume rocker later, she was able to see her mum's face after what... a week or so? It felt a lot longer when you didn't really have anything to tell you how much time has passed (as she usually keep her PokéNav in her bag.)

"Ah, Leaf. How are you doing, honey?" Mrs Green said with a knowing smirk, "Let me guess, you realised that it's been over a month since you've started your journey, correct?"

Leaf did an equally knowing smirk, "Yep, now what bet did you win. If it's about me, you have to split some of the money with me."

Leaf's mum scratched the back of her head, "Delia and I have made quite a few bets about you and Ash. One of them was about who would remember the one month anniversary. I bet that Ash would remember before you and I was right, he called his mother yesterday. And Delia thought that you would remember, a mother is never wrong about her child."

That left the brunette a little annoyed, "Alright, what were the other bets?"

"Well, I made a few bets: who was the stronger trainer, who had caught the most Pokémon and, of course, who would make the first move," Mrs Green gave a quick wink, "I said that Ash was the stronger trainer, you had the most Pokèmon and that you made the first move. Am I right?"

That made Leaf sigh, "How do you always win these bets? I don't think you've ever lost a bet in your life. And anyway, I haven't battled Ash in a while plus I only kissed him because it would leave him flustered."

"Sure... If you said the word 'breast' in front if that boy, he would collapse onto the floor," the elder woman said before quickly adding to it with, "And anyway, who said making a move meant getting physical. I can't believe you two moved to second base."

"Shut up, mum!" Leaf said, unable to stop the soft red blush on her cheeks.

"mmm... You shut up..." Yellow stirred behind Leaf, causing the brunette to sigh. The blonde rolled around in her sleeping bag a little before pulling herself out with a yawn.

"Go back to sleep, Yellow. My mum just said something that annoyed me. Nothing went wrong," Leaf said, trying fight the blush that threatened to expose itself.

The blonde paused, trying to figure out what Leaf's mum had said and had an ear-to-ear grin as she realised what it was, "So I see you ship them as well, Mrs Green. Don't worry, I'll get them together even if it's the last thing I do."

Leaf's mum had a small smile on her face, "You do that, Yellow. I don't doubt your matchmaking abilities. Just make sure that they don't do anything they might regret."

The last bit went over Yellow's head so she replied with an earnest smile, "Okay, Mrs Green. Enjoy the rest of your night."

As Yellow went back to her sleeping bag, Leaf's mother yawned a little, "Well honey, I hope you've been enjoying your journey, you're becoming mommy's little money maker again so keep letting Ash be the better trainer. I love you!"

Leaf rolled her eyes, "You too, mum. Can you tell Mrs Ketchum that I appreciate her supporting me more than my own mother."

"Will do, honey. Will do. Now, go back to bed. It's two in the morning!"

The PokéNav's screen went black and Leaf followed her mother's instruction, sleeping as soon as her head hit the sleeping bag. Her mind becoming full of dreams as she drifted into slumber.

* * *

 **Alright, I hope you enjoyed that. Since it's the holidays in the UK, I should be able to make some good progress on chapter 8. Until next time!**


	9. Escaping Mount Moon

**Disclaimer: I don't own Pokémon since that belongs to Nintendo and Gamefreak**

It has been quite a while since I've written a chapter. The original version was finished close to the time I finished Chapter 7. But when I realised that the chapter wasn't even as half as good as I thought it would be, I scrapped it and started another one. I'm sorry that it took so long for me to finish this chapter but I love a good video game and Breath of the Wild, Super Smash Bros and Red Dead Redemption 2 take a lot of time to complete. Enjoy the chapter.

"Talking" = Speech

"(Pokéspeaking?)" = Pokéspeech

'Thinking' = Thoughts

' _Telepathic speech_ ' = Telepathy

* * *

It had been a week and a half or so between the Clefairy's dance and, more importantly to Yellow (who was starting to enjoy shipping them together), the kiss. Ash seemed to ignore it, saying that it was just Leaf being her playful, teasing self. Leaf, on the other hand, kept quiet on the subject altogether despite the fact that she was the one that had put the action into motion. They had gone through quite a lot of floors (seven down from the Clefairy and then around fourteen more going upwards from the ground floor.) It had been a fruitful few days, everyone saw things that they would have never thought they had seen before like the glimmering crystals deep underground and the clear streams and springs which the Water-types dwelled in.

But they hadn't just been enjoying their caving, using all the Pokémon and unique environment to train all of their Pokémon. The Pokémon that they battled in the cave were of a large variety: there were the Normal-type Pokémon that could be used for dealing with an unpredictable Pokèmon due to their large move pools; there were Water-type Pokémon which helped train their Pokémon with finding a way to defeat a Pokémon who is more suited to the territory (Water-type Pokémon fare better in water than a Grass-type or an Electric-type) or fighting various Rock-types so strategies could be used to find ways to take down a Pokémon with high defensive capabilities among other specific cases.

Pikachu had simply been grinding off of other Pokémon, learning ways to get around the type disadvantage. Ash quickly realised that whilst Pikachu was a good offensive choice, it only took a few powerful attacks to finish him off. Since there were two choices on how to go about defence (blocking or evading) Ash told Pikachu to become faster and react quicker to incoming attacks. One of the ways Ash had told Pikachu to train was when Ash would tell Pikachu to bounce off of rocks at quick speeds. This was because quickly jumping between two objects whilst maintaining optimal speed required quick reaction time to bounce off as soon as possible.

Ash also did a quick check of everyone's levels and was surprised to see that his Pokémon had made a lot of progress in the month (give or take) that they had been gone. Pikachu was now level 24 which meant that Pikachu was able to learn some more attacks. First, Ash asked Pikachu to start perfecting **Thunder Wave** since that would paralyse a Pokémon and help Pikachu avoid attacks as well as help Ash capture any wild Pokémon. Ash decided to skip **Feint** since it was only useful when the opponent was using **Protect** or **Detect**. Ash didn't skip **Double Team** though since **Double Team** would be especially useful to throw off any fatal attacks as well as allowing Pikachu to do multiple offensive attacks like **Volt Tackle** (whenever Ash thought Pikachu was ready to learn it.)

Instead of increasing Riolu's defence, Ash opted to go for more offence. Ash quickly checked the moves Riolu could currently learn (excluding his egg moves) which included **Copycat** and **Screech**. Though **Screech** was the only useful attack, the boy remembered Riolu's multiple egg moves and decided on which ones would be useful in their next few battles. **Detect** was an ideal move since it could make up for not focusing on Riolu's defence. **Bullet Punch** was also a useful one since it was another priority move, though it was one that was super effective against Rock-types which isn't the same for **Quick Attack**.

Riolu trained like Pikachu had with **Iron Tail** for **Bullet Punch** but was more focused on strengthening the muscle than breaking the rocks. The Fighting-type also used his emotion reading and Aura powers to try and detect incoming attacks and avoid them which would help him perfect **Detect**. For **Screech** , Ash just told Riolu to start screaming loudly for long periods of time whilst using his **Detect** training to avoid the aggravated Pokémon that wanted to take him down. Ash decided that **Copycat** could be a secondary objective since it relied on the opponent to be useful. Though there was something appealing with **Copycat** , it would be fun to see how a battle with only **Copycat** would go.

Ash did a quick scan of Bagon (who had just turned level 24) and discovered that the Pokémon was able to learn **Headbutt** and **Focus** **Energy**. Ash laughed a little as he realised something, some of Bagon's Pokédex entries state that it like go headbutt things a lot. If so, why does Bagon learn it at level 17 instead of, say, level one or something close to level one? But going back on topic, Bagon had soon become one of the hardest hitting pPokémon on Ash's team with the combination of a high base power attack, boosted critical hit chances and a strong offensive stat. **Focus** **Energy** was mastered soon enough since Bagon was already used to focusing all of his power and strength into certain parts of his body (such as his jaws for **Bite**.)

Ash's Pidgeotto didn't have a lot of space to do its usual flight training but Ash was able to give the Pokémon something else to do. Pidgeotto had just gotten to level 23, meaning that it now had the ability to naturally learn **Twister**. Ash and friends quickly realised that whilst on their little Pokémon training breaks, a group of Zubat would always appear. There were no exceptions which meant that Pidgeotto always had some experience fodder as well as some targets to use **Twister** on.

Leaf had a full team of Pokémon compared to Ash's four so she had to spend a lot more effort in ensuring that everyone was progressing. Bulbasaur was level 24 which was equal to. Leaf did a quick check of her starter and discovered that Bulbasaur was now able to use **Take** **Down** and **Razor** **Leaf**. Leaf smiled as she saw this since, up to Mount Moon, her main powerful Grass-type attack was a **Vine Ram** which was covered by **Leech Seed** and **Sleep Powder**. With **Razor** **Leaf** , he could throw some extra damage without having to damage his vines. Since **Vine** **Ram** was pretty straining due to the fact that the vines had to be wrapped tightly around each other, using **Razor** **Leaf** to let the vines heal would be a good idea. Along with that, **Take** **Down** was going to be a good attack since Bulbasaur's **Vine Ram** wasn't doing as much damage to Pokémon with a type resistance to Grass-type attacks. With **Take Down** , Bulbasaur could use **Vine Ram** to slam a Flying-type into the ground before using **Take Down** to finish them off. **Leech Seed** was another attack that could be used to set up for **Take Down**. Now that she thought about it, Bulbasaur was good Pokémon for setting up all sorts of attacks since they had **Vine Ram** to stop all of their momentum, **Leech Seed** which could be used to drain health, **Sleep Powder** which could be used to put them to sleep for further attacks and then the main damage dealing with a **Vine** **Ram** and **Razor Leaf** combo.

Leaf's Spearow was level 21 which meant that she could learn **Aerial Ace** and **Mirror Move**. These two attacks were quite useful since **Aerial Ace** was a stronger replacement to **Quick Attack** due to its higher base power and STAB. This also meant that **Aerial Ace** could be used along with **Peck** and **Tri-Attack** which should make the attack more powerful and allow it to stand up to Ash's Pidgeotto, who had been growing bulkier and sturdier as the training went on. **Mirror Move** was also going to be a lot of fun since it turned a Pokémon's attack against them. If her opponent tried to use **Double-Edge** or **Hyper Beam** or anything that was a remotely strong attack, she could use that attack against them and could incorporate it into one of her combos. Nidoran had jumped by leaps and bounds, now level 21 and showing signs that he was close to evolving. Nidoran learnt the moves **Horn Attack** and **Fury Attack** , both of which weren't hard to master. After all, the attack was more about the amount of force that is put in for **Horn Attack** and speed put in for **Fury** **Attack**.

This made it quite easy for Nidoran to continue using the track since it was a familiar motion with a few differences on what should be prioritised. However, what interested Leaf more were the darker patches of skin on Nidoran's back, a sign that the Poison-type was close to evolution. Aerodactyl had been one of Leaf's largest focuses during Mount Moon. Since the Pokémon had been from ancient times, there were quite a few things that needed to be explained. For example, the rest of the Pokémon had to explain Pokéballs (as they weren't there during ancient times); training which is assisted by a human and understanding orders.

Aerodactyl turned level 24 (after being the main focus of all the training ) which allowed it to learn **Ancient** **Power** (an attack which Leaf would like to focus on due to its stat raising ability.) Leaf had been focusing on manoeuvrability due to how somewhat clunky Aerodactyl was due to it not using its wings for an incredibly long amount of time. This training led to all the experience Aerodactyl had gained since the best way to test manoeuvrability was to battle the light, speedy Zubat.

Jigglypuff and Clefairy both trained together as a pair. Clefairy was high enough of a level to not need to grind on other wild Pokénon though Jigglypuff could have benefited from a boost in stats. In the end, both Pokémon were at level 23. Whilst Jigglypuff only learnt **Round** , the two were able to collaborate and learn some strategies that could be useful: a strategy where Clefairy would use **Double Slap** on Jigglypuff's **Rollout** to allow Jigglypuff to bounce back to Clefairy for a repeat of the first attack; a strategy where the opponent is put to sleep by Jigglypuff whilst Clefairy mixes **Double Slap** and **Wake-up Slap** (which has 140 base power per slap on a sleeping target) to wake up the Pokémon before it is put back to sleep by Jigglypuff's **Sing**.

Chuchu hadn't been training as much as the others but she often helped Pikachu with his training. The female Pikachu mirrored the same attacks as Ash's Pikachu though they often hit with less power due to Chuchu not battling as often as Ash's Pikachu. She did perfect her **Debilitating** **Shock** which was now able to be quickly fired and completely incapacitated a target with in seven seconds.

The group had been enjoying their time in Mount Moon as they started traversing back to the exit, it didn't take nearly as long to get back down since they weren't looking at every nook and cranny for hidden items. The group was in an awfully cheery mood, they were all a little excited to get back out of the mountain and back into the lush forests and bright cities.

"So... How does that make you an actor?" Ash asked Leaf with a raised eyebrow. He'd remembered when the two were both chasing Yellow's smoke cloud in Viridian Forest where she casually stated that she was an actor.

"I was on the set and moved a little. If you can call the people around the protagonist a background actor, I should be referred to as such... And anyway, I'm sure you loved 'the Musharna Paradox' as much as anyone else did. It got five out of five, what do you have against me being an actor in the movie," Leaf scratched her head a little as she recalled the experience, "I climbed through a window into a house guarded by strong, buff men; explored the area a little, damaging some property along the way; waltzed into a studio and, when the actors entered, I hid under the table before doing a small wave to the camera. I escaped before they could notice and, once they did, they played it off as one of the movie's mysteries. What's wrong with that?"

"Well, other than the fact you could be charged for breaking and entering and collateral damage, you weren't acting as a character. You're basically a background extra or an unnoticed cameo," Ash replied with a small smirk, "People only think of the main characters who stay on screen, you're a cameo with only three seconds of screen time. No one knows you."

Leaf replied with an equally smug smirk, "And yet the character and mystery that I created lives on in the threads that debate theories. Hell, I even have my own subthread. Just search online, 'the Musharna Paradox Dream Princess.' I don't know who coined that name but I love being known as the 'Dream Princess.' It makes me sound so regal and elegant, doesn't it?"

Ash seemed a little dumbfounded but hastily replied, "B-but that's about the character, not you!"

Leaf's smirk broke into a full-blown grin, "But I thought you said I wasn't an actor because I wasn't acting as a character... And you just said that I'm popular because of the character. So which is it, Ashy?"

Yellow formed a small smile on her lips due to Ash's sigh of defeat, teasing "So you aren't going to kiss like last time. I thought you two would be kind to your shipper. At least give me a small victory, C'mon..."

Ash blushed whilst Leaf quickly responded with, "No. No, we can't. And anyway, you tried that last time when we reached the peak of Mount Moon. You remember what happened, don't you? I thought it was pretty traumatising."

Yellow shuddered remembering the memory, the fear that accompanied the memory was shaking her and making her heart beat rapidly.

* * *

A couple of days earlier, the group had reached the peak of Mount Moon. It wasn't the actual peak of Mount Moon, as that was to the east of where they were, but it was the highest point that they could get to if they didn't want to get sidetracked and go in a completely different direction to the intended route.

Ash and Yellow were thankful that they had bought insulated over suits that were made to combat subzero temperatures. Leaf, on the other hand, was shaking a little and had to take a warm black winter coat to stop herself from shaking. Whilst the top of Mount Moon wasn't an ice-covered blizzard like the parts of Mount Coronet near Snowpoint City, they were still cold enough to cause Ash to call for the use of Sunny Day which took some of the bite out of the group let out all of their Pokémon to let them spread their legs (or wings in the Flying-types' case.)

The view from the peak was amazing and well worth the hours that they spent climbing up. They were able to see up to the entire Kanto Region and even glimpses of the Johto Region and Tohjo Falls. The group released their Pokémon out of their Pokéballs, allowing them to enjoy some of the clean air that they wouldn't have breathed in since they entered the cave. Afterwards, they all huddled around the South-western edge of the peak to see the rest of Kanto.

The sights of a nearby Cerulean City lighted Ash and Leaf's determination to get their second gym badge whilst the further away Saffron City and Celadon City caused Yellow to stare in awe at the huge skyscrapers and flashing lights. Ash and Leaf were holding hands, Ash seemingly oblivious whilst Leaf was aware but trying to act as if she wasn't. The two got closer as they were mesmerised by their view of Kanto; noticing how the region was a perfect blend of nature and cities with both seemingly mixing perfectly with each other.

Yellow watched Ash and Leaf with a little grin, "Hey, are you two going to kiss? You guys are so close together, c'mon. For your biggest shipper, be kind and... Leaf, why are you walking so menacingly?"

Without so much as a second of hesitation, Leaf marched over to Yellow and gave her a hard shove to the shoulder. Yellow's relatively weak and light frame caused her to stumble back a little... Right over the edge of the peak and above a good 200-meter drop. Leaf realised quickly that she'd thrown one of her friends straight to their death and did a quick grab to reach Yellow's arm. Too little, too late.

"Pidgeotto, **Quick** **Attack** to reach Yellow. Make sure you catch her whilst you're going downwards, she'll get injured pretty badly if she stops suddenly!" Ash said, before realising he'd wasted a good few seconds trying to construct that sentence, "Go!"

Pidgeotto didn't need any more explaining and blurred into a white beam as she began a nosedive to Yellow's side. Yellow was already about 40 metres down so Pidgeotto had to use her spinning **Steel Wing** strategy to make herself a little more aerodynamic and move a little faster. Yellow was 60 metres down by the time that Pidgeotto was able to make it to her, the bird going downwards at an angle like Ash had said. Once Yellow felt some feathers, she noticed that she was slowing down steadily. A loud chirp caused her to realise that she wasn't free-falling any more, giving her a few moments to think about how to respond to Leaf.

Sure, she knew she was being a little annoying but that wasn't enough to warrant being thrown to your death... If she said that it was Leaf's fault, the brunette would respond with a lot of annoyance so she decided to think of an evasive speech that would shift the blame on both of the three seconds of preparation in mind, Yellow opened her mouth only to have all of the words flee her brain. She stumbled off of Pidgeotto with an eerie silence and, without so much as glance at Leaf, walked slowly over to Ash and buried her head into his shoulder with a tight hug.

* * *

Yellow shuddered a little more before Ash decided to step in, "C'mon, Leaf. You threw poor Yellow over the edge of a mountain, of course, it's traumatising. I know you lack the normal amount of empathy but I thought you'd have enough to notice Yellow's sudden fear of heights."

That caused Yellow to blush a little, 'I didn't think it was that obvious.'

Leaf retreated a little as she noticed that Ash seemed genuinely angry, "Fine. I'll stop... And by the way, I have a clinical lack of Oxytocin. Expect me to throw you off of the next mountain we go to, Ashy."

Ash and Yellow flinched, not amused when Riolu and Leaf burst into laughter. Leaf put a hand out for a truce which let Ash relax a little more. He expected her to try something, a sucker punch of sorts, but, to his surprise, Leaf just shook his hand and gave him a playful wink. With the issue settled, the group walked towards the exit of the cave which should let them escape from the mountain and see the eastern half of Kanto.

They were only a few floors above the ground floor (six or seven if Leaf's hand-drawn map was to be believed) when Riolu started twitching before freezing still, appendages raising as if a strong wind was blowing them upwards. The group stopped in their tracks, Ash waiting for Riolu to respond so that he could find out what had his friend so... Focused? It was hard to tell when Riolu was snapping his head left and right, appendages flaring away from his head like some sort of whip.

The Pokémon stopped focussing on whatever had distracted him, putting a hand behind his head and scratching it with some sweat dripping down the fur, ' _Do you mind if we stay away from the exit for another week or so?_ '

Ash raised an eyebrow before translating the message to the rest of the group. Leaf shook her head before making a laconic rant about why they should continue. Yellow agreed with Leaf, saying that they would be behind schedule if they didn't start moving. Ash agreed with the others before asking Riolu to explain further.

The Fighting-Type conceded and continued, ' _Ash, you have to convince them. I sensed a lot of malevolent intentions downstairs. That is either a surprising coincidence or Mount Moon is being infiltrated by some kind of criminal group or evil organisation... or it could just be really annoyed miners. But disregarding that, if we assume that we actually do have criminals downstairs, we should realise that we are all trapped in. C'mon, convince them!'_

Ash forwarded the message to the rest of the group. Leaf was unfazed, sure that it truly was just a group of angry miners, and tried to encourage everyone to start moving downwards and make it to the exit which Yellow agreed on, though rather hesitant at first. Ash decided to make another attempt to convince them to stay put but he failed.

"(Why are humans so stupid? I'm grateful Ash is the reasonable one here)" Riolu facepalmed before waving his hand in disappointment, ' _If you want to go investigate, go on then. I'll use my Aura senses to keep us safe but, if we get caught and something bad happens, you cannot blame me._ '

The trio continued on their way down, though they were making a beeline straight towards the exit to stay on the safe side. Floors six to two were easily passed, only requiring an hour or so to get through the four floors floors. Riolu kept his word and would frequently flash his eyes blue and spin around to see where everyone was.

The group stayed in a relative silence that would often appear during their caving adventure. As soon as they used the rope ladder to drop down to the second floor, Riolu started focusing deeply on all of the emotions that were surrounding them. His eyes flashed between the ephemeral blue of Aura and the fiery orange that they were naturally. Riolu pointed to the left and started heading in that direction, the others following quickly when Riolu told them that some of the people were around 40 away in the opposite one.

Their escape was uneventful disregarding the haughty laughter that they could hear through the stone walls. It was only when Riolu tired and was returned to his Pokéball when things started to go south. Without Riolu there to track where the enemy was, they had to rely on sight and sound to evade whoever the people below were. They moved slowly, in a triangle of sorts with Ash in front and other two behind to his side. He had suggested for Leaf to lead but the brunette pushed him into the role. They advanced forwards in a repetitive fashion with Ash leading in tight corridors and passages whilst Leaf would take action when they faced forks and corners.

As they moved forwards, Ash had noticed that the sounds that were spread throughout the tunnels had started getting louder. This put the group into a sense of unease with all of the noise building up. The noises rose to climax since, only a few seconds after the disturbing calls, they heard a squeal... Then a pained cry... A terrifying shriek... And deathly silence.

Ash and Leaf stood still, Leaf having understood what happened and trying not to show it whilst Ash was guessing quite accurately. Whilst the Pallet Town Trainers had frozen, Yellow started twitching erratically. The female Electric-type, who had been perched at the top of Yellow's hard hat, used a light **ThunderShock** in order to bring back some level of conscious thinking. The blonde stopped twitching, becoming deathly still and muttering, "T-they couldn't... T-they didn't... T-they murdered an innocent Pokémon..."

After the dying shrieks, everyone became a little more hesitant about continuing. Ash tried to wake Riolu back up, even resorting to using some of the chesto berries and awakenings that they were carrying. The Fighting-type would fall asleep seconds after he woke up which caused the rest of them to give up. Although, they all did realise that if the Fighting-type did wake up, Riolu would have just given them an 'I told you so.'

As a replacement for Riolu's aura senses, they used their Pokémon's heightened senses. Pikachu, Chuchu and Nidoran had the greatest hearing out of the Pokémon that they were carrying with them so they were surrounding the group with both Pikachu at the front and Nidoran at the back. Leaf's Bulbasaur and Ash's Bagon went to either the front or back of the group so that they were defended if anyone did come through. Jigglypuff and Clefairy accompanied either of the two so that they could use a sleep-inducing move like Sing to help things along. Pidgeotto, Spearow and Aerodactyl stayed in their Pokéballs for the time being since there wasn't enough space for them in the narrow tunnels.

The group of humans and Pokémon all walked down the tunnels, referring to the maps that Leaf had drawn. They were quickly aware of how many people had entered the cave. The only problem was that they were completely unaware of the intentions that the people had since, without Riolu's Aura senses to differentiate between the good and bad. They made some progress through the floor though it was at a snail's pace compared to before.

"Hey Leaf," Ash whispered almost inaudibly, "I think I saw someone down the previous corridor to the right."

Leaf gave a small nod of acknowledgement before waving at the Pokémon around them, "That's the problem when we're not using Riolu. Senses can be lied to and they aren't always specific but it's the best we have. And anyway, it's not like we're in immediate danger because of that, they would have attacked us if they meant us any harm"

Leaf's words made him feel a little safer but they weren't enough to stop the odd feeling he felt in his chest. The kind of feeling you would get when you knew that something bad was going to happen. Ash was usually about to predict these things, some saying that he had a strong prescience for bad events and misfortune. He stayed in deep thought to keep himself from sulking.

After he was out of this cave, he would be in the eastern side of Kanto, a place which he hadn't seen before. He knew that they were going to face the Cerulean City Gym Leader before going south and facing Vermillion City's Gym. Cerulean should be a cakewalk since Pikachu was an Electric-type Pokémon with Electric-type moves so STAB plus the type effectiveness should win him the badge. And, if Pikachu were to faint and be unable to battle, he could always call Bagon out since Dragon-types were resistant to Water-type attacks.

Vermillion was going to require some more thinking. Since it was an Electric-type Gym, he didn't have any straight strategy. He knew that Bagon would be starting the battle off since its Dragon-type was resistant to the Electric-type attacks that were used by the Gym Leader. The Pokémon that he knew Lieutenant Surge (who he believed was the current Gym Leader) used the Magnemite and Pikachu evolutionary family and he had heard some say that the man also used Electabuzz and a Jolteon but those were most likely for higher level trainers.

"Stop! Don't move!" the boy heard a voice call out from behind them.

'I knew it' Ash thought internally as the odd feeling disappeared, they should have listened to Riolu. Ash turned around to look behind him, he was curious as to why Bagon, Nidoran and Clefairy hadn't already attacked.

That was why he was a little surprised to see that they already had. Only Bagon was left standing with the others collapsed on the floor in a tired heap from the foe's attacks. Whilst Ash had been in deep thought, a Team Rocket Grunt (which he assumed was one of the people that Riolu had sensed earlier) with a Venasaur had taken out half of their team. Ash looked to his side and saw that Leaf was battling the Venasaur whilst Yellow was crouched over some of the Pokémon that had fainted and was popping berry after berry into their mouths with short touches to their foreheads to use her Psychic powers to help them along.

The raven-haired trainer quickly looked at which Pokémon were left. Bagon and Pikachu were conscious, though Ash didn't think they would be for very long, whilst Riolu and Pidgeotto were in his Pokéball. Making a quick plan, Ash pulled one of his torches and shone the light into the attacker's eyes.

"Pikachu, **Thunder Wave** on Venasaur to paralyse him! Bagon, **Flaming Dragon Pulse** and keep it going! I choose you, Riolu!" Ash called out his orders before shaking Riolu awake, "Riolu, use **Screech** to lower defence, then use **Bullet Punch** to get close and hit 'em with **Blaze Kick**!"

Pikachu sent a weak current into Venasaur's body, similar to how Chuchu would when incapacitating her opponent. Unlike Chuchu's attack, Pikachu would only paralyse her enemy instead of causing them to lose consciousness. The attack worked since several short sparks flew across the Grass-type's skin. Bagon used **Focus Energy** (even if Ash hadn't told him to) before he started attacking as well with the **Fire Fang** / **Dragon Pulse** combo.

Riolu woke up sluggishly, lethargically yawning before noticing the attacker and registering the orders. The Fighting-type's eyes blazed with energy before rubbing his palms together and releasing a high-pitched scream. The **Screech** caused Venasaur to acquire a dark purple tinge which signalled for Riolu to close in. With a metal fist, the Pokémon swung a right hook before throwing various aflame kicks. Whilst the paralysis made it seem as though they had a fighting chance, Venasaur used **Razor Leaf** and **Petal Dance** to damage their onslaught of attacks.

Pikachu fainted instantly, his low-defence body stopped him from being able to endure the attack (causing Ash to rethink his defensive strategy with Pikachu) which lead to an instant knock out. Bagon was the next to be knocked down: Venasaur started releasing large seeds which exploded as soon as they came near the Dragon-type. With only a tenth of his health left, Bagon tried to use **Fire Fang** on Venasaur but the high-level Grass-type was able to slam him into a wall with Vine Whip before finishing him off with **Petal Dance**. Leaf had her own Bulbasaur (her last fighting Pokémon) knocked out as Venasaur released **Sludge Bomb** on Bulbasaur, critically damaging its pre-evolved form, before finishing it off with a **Toxic** and **Razor Leaf** combo.

With Leaf out of the battle, it was just Riolu and Pidgeotto that would face Venasaur, "Riolu, **Screech** to lower its defence again then **Agility** and **Bullet Punch**!" Ash called out.

With only Riolu left, Ash felt that the battle was hopeless. Even with the defence nerfs, Riolu wasn't going to be able to finish Venasaur offend he doubted Pidgeotto could do much better. In any case, Venasaur would win no matter what he did. Riolu slid back a bit so he could release the deafening noise from his mouth. Riolu kept the noise going until the bluish purple tinge deepened on the herbal dinosaur. Riolu burst into **Agility** , blurring into a fuzzy image before slamming a metallic first into Venasaur's side

" **Poison Powder** then **Solar Beam** , Venasaur!" the grunt called out.

"Dodge with **Agility** and **Blaze Kick** to the main plant. Let's see if we can disrupt the **Solar Beam**!" Ash responded, whilst he knew that Riolu didn't have a fighting chance, it didn't mean that he would give up so easily.

Venasaur grunted a little before purple spores started erupting from the large flower that sat on its back. Riolu used **Agility** and backpedalled a little so that the powder would dissipate and spread out before he headed in to rush the Grass-type. The blue and black Fighting-type sprinted towards the Grass-type and did a hop to axe kick Venasaur's flower.

"Use **Blaze Kick** , slam your feet into the centre of the flower. We should be able to keep **Solar Beam** from forming. Prepare yourself to use **Detect** in case they use another attack!" Ash called out, trying to formulate some sort of plan in order to win this battle. Could he try to use **Copycat**? He hadn't trained Riolu a lot on the move but he knew that Riolu performed it successfully once. The Fighting-type stood up on Venasaur's flower before seemingly sprinting on a point on the flower with aflame legs. Riolu was definitely putting a lot more force than he would when sprinting since Venasaur was wincing constantly. He was hitting so hard that Ash could have sworn that the Emanation Pokémon had punctured one of the petals.

"Venasaur, **Razor Leaf** and **Vine Whip** to surround him!" the grunt called out, a confident smirk on his face as though he had already won this battle.

Ash was confused as to why the grunt was so confident. **Detect** should allow Riolu to dodge every attack that came towards him... Except when there was no room to dodge. Ash had, in an inextricable amount of stupidity, forgotten that he was battling in a tunnel with a 's eyes became a light blue, **Detect** being under effect. In a split second, Riolu sensed the location of each attack around him and predicted where they were headed. He was completely surrounded on the sides, the incoming vines and blade-like leaves encircled him.

Riolu knew that there was a roof only ten centimetres above him. Deciding to risk it, Riolu jumped and spun in the air with **Quick Attack** , narrowly avoiding each attack that had been sent at him.

"Riolu, **Endure**!" Ash called out, eyes widening as he noticed that Riolu was definitely going to slam into the solid stone ceiling above them. Riolu had carefully calculated how much power to put into the jump. But, no matter how hard he thought about it, he was either going to avoid every attack or slam into the roof. With the impact only seconds away, Riolu flashed red before crashing into the stone with a sickening thud and falling through the air with a large purplish area around his nose and forehead.

"Venasaur, **Razor Leaf** to weaker and **Solar Beam** to finish them off!" the grunt ordered with a bemused smile.

"Get up, Riolu. **Detect** and retaliate with **Copycat**!" Ash responded, desperately trying to find some sort of way to win this battle. If he told Riolu to rush Venasaur with physical moves, he was sure to be struck down. The fact that Riolu didn't have ranged attacks (except the weak impromptu **Water Pulse** which Venasaur would be resistant to) made it so that he didn't have any other viable options.

The large leaves surrounding the plant on Venasaur's back released the blade-like leaves again, the main plant starting to glow as it absorbed any of the light in the air (at least, that's what Ash assumed given the fact that there was practically zero sunlight in the cave tunnels.) The energy manifested itself as an orb of yellow energy before becoming a metre-wide beam which singed the walls and left the charred stone in its wake.

Ash pressed himself against the wall to keep himself from being burnt to a crisp whilst Riolu pushed himself up (albeit somewhat slowly) before flashing his eyes blue again to predict where the **Solar Beam** would hit. With the prescient power, he sidestepped before somersaulting forwards, rolling beneath the beam of light unharmed. The Fighting-type focused on the attack that happened prior and starting glowing a dark green, similar to the shade that grass had.

" **Vine Whip,** whilst he's charging the **Solar Beam**!" the grunt shouted.

Ash sighed in defeat as he realised what had just happened. In another act of stupidity, he had told Riolu to use **Solar Beam** which would require a few seconds of concentration before being released. During those seconds, Riolu was completely defenceless. As the large vine slammed into the side of Riolu's head, knocking him out cold, Ash recalled all of his Pokémon and clipped their Pokéballs onto his trainer belt.

Ash played with the idea of using Pidgeotto to end the battle but he knew the area was too small for Pidgeotto to fight properly. The problem was that the roof was less than three metres above the ground so Pidgeotto would have little room to dodge any attacks. If another wave of **Razor Leaf** came at them, they'd have to take them all. With all of his Pokémon safe in their Pokéballs, Ash raised his hands in the air and gestured for the others to do likewise. With no Pokémon left and with zero weapons or tools to save them, Ash had no choice but to surrender.

"You all fought pretty well. In fact, if I hadn't stolen this Pokémon from such a powerful trainer, I might have lost. But, you all fought against me so I'm afraid I'm going to have to take you all captive... That is, of course, if you don't want to join Team Rocket. After all, if you can't beat them, join them. So, will you join us?" the Grunt said to an empty silence, "Well, I did try. Venasaur, **Sleep Powder!** "

At that moment, Ash tried to grab for the mask that he had taken off quite long ago. As soon as he reached into the pocket that it was stuffed into, he was already on the ground out cold.

* * *

After a pleasant, dream-like stupor Ash woke from a sharp pain on his left cheek. The boy grunted both from the pain and from the sudden awakening but he quickly recovered and surveyed his surroundings. It seemed like one of the other cave rooms that they would train in but it was much smaller, probably only a 5-metre by 4-metre box with two exits on the walls to their left and right.

Ash tried to get up before noticing a large, thick rope to wrap his ankles and cold, steel handcuffs on his wrist. He quickly remembered the pain that had woken him up and looked to his immediate left and right. The twelve-year-old relaxed a little when he noticed that Leaf was to the left of him with Yellow on Leaf's left. It seemed to him that Leaf had dug her nails into his cheeks to wake him up.

"Are you alright, Ashy? I hope the little pinch didn't hurt you whilst I was trying to escape with our lives!" Leaf scolded before pointing at the floor to his right, "Now, can you pick up that razor? I'm going to free my ankles so I can get the handcuff key I keep in my shoes and I need that razor to do so. Just pass it over to me."

Ash blinked twice before shuffling a little across the floor and moving his arm above the blade, lightly fingering it so that he could get a light grip on the smooth metal. He spun around and placed the flat side of the blade in Leaf's hand.

Ash decided to speak up, feeling that he was still dreaming, "Erm, Leaf... Why do you just carry a blade with you? And how do you know how to escape? Why are you so prepared?"

"Wait, let me focus on cutting the rope and not accidentally slitting my wrists, alright... And anyway, this isn't my first time in handcuffs-" Leaf froze before a light blush appeared on her face. This really made Ash sceptical of whether he was dreaming or not, Leaf may have been enjoying and using her freedom of speech a little too much (something which Ash and Yellow had to negotiate with Leaf on) but she was definitely not a criminal, "Er... What for? You didn't..."

Ash couldn't really finish the sentence. She didn't what? He doubted that she committed some sort of serious crime like murder or anything in that league. Would it be assault? Leaf could be a little aggressive when provoked like when Yellow started teasing them on the mountain (though even Ash could admit that it was rather annoying even if he would rather be the calm, non-aggressive person in the group.)

"Didn't what? I didn't do anything that crazy, I'd be behind bars if I did. So, if you dared to even think that I would murder or maim someone then you know me too well," she said with a quasi-psychotic grin which broke into a laugh, "No, it was way less serious than that. It's only a year or two of jail time if I was an adult, it wasn't too bad."

Ash did a nervous chuckle when Leaf did the psycho grin, was assuming assault wrong of him, "I didn't think you would do anything that serious... So, what did you do?"

"It was only theft," Leaf said with a shrug, not a lot of guilt on her face other than the sheepish scratching of her head, "Remember how we were meant to stay at Sinnoh for a year or so before moving back to Pallet Town? We got caught right in the middle of one of Sinnoh's worst economic depression in its history. It's why it took so long for us to get back, we needed to make sure that we could afford a house when we came back along with being able to get food and other things. I was pretty light on my feet so I pickpocketed money from other people. Actual breaking and entering came in a lot later but that's a completely different story"

Ash was taken aback by Leaf's confession, "But, didn't your mum find out about it?"

Leaf blushed a little as she finally took the handcuff key out of her shoe, "Of course she found out! The woman should have been a clairvoyant, it would have gotten us back in Kanto a long time ago but she doubts pseudoscience and refuses to be part of it. But, yeah, she found out. She didn't like it at first, making me put all of the money into a charity if we couldn't give the money back... But, when you have no other sources of income, you have to accept any and all ways possible. I became talented in that field of crime."

"B-but you were still caught," the raven-haired trainer stuttered out after a brief pause.

That caused Leaf to laugh as she gave Ash the key so that he could take his handcuffs off, "I had a partner in crime, it was a Ditto. I'd use him as a disguise so that I could sneak in relatively easily plus they worked as great lockpicks once you taught them how. I got caught because I didn't know that Ditto had aquaphobia. With Ditto wrapped around my body, I tried to grab a coin bag that had fallen into a half-full bathtub causing him to shriek and reveal our presence."

It took Ash a few tries to both get over the fact that the key had been sitting in Leaf's shoe for about two weeks and that he had to use his teeth to unlock the handcuffs, "And... What did they do when they found you?"

"Well, they slapped some metal handcuffs on me since I had the appearance of a grown man. After I revealed that I was just a young girl, they had to take the handcuffs off by force since they dropped the key somewhere. After they heard my foolproof excuse, I was given a slap on the risk and escorted home. The face my mum wore when she opened the door was absolutely brilliant," Leaf smiled before stealthily checking if anyone would see her take back her bag and belongings, "I'm going to get my stuff and wake up Yellow. Hurry up so that we can get out of here!"

"But the key was in your shoe..." Ash sighed, unable to get over the lack of hygiene, "Can you do it?"

She huffed before unlocking the handcuffs for him and gave him the razor to free his feet. He twisted his wrist to check if it had gone numb during the time it had been numb. He sawed off the rope, finding it surprisingly hard to cut through the sturdy rope.

Once he had finally cut through the rope, Leaf had found where the Grunt had scattered all of their Pokéball and left them all in the centre of the room. He stretched before rising from the wall and looked through the pile of Pokéballs for his Pokémon.

Ash found Pikachu's Pokéball and let him, hoping that Pikachu hadn't got cranky after being left in the Pokéball for so long. He didn't find his Pidgeotto's Pokéball so he had to join Leaf in her search for all of their items.

He was able to find Pidgeotto's Pokéball after a few minutes of searching, a bit after Leaf had found everything that she needed and started freeing Yellow. Ash looked for the empty Pokéballs and Great balls that he had. It was during that look that Ash, looking through every nook and cranny, found a taser with a few 15-meter bolts.

Ash was about to put it back where he had found it but Leaf quickly snatched the taser out of his hands and slid the bolt out of his hands. The boy was about to disagree but he trusted Leaf, even if some would think that trust was misplaced, so he decided against it. After all, having some kind of non-lethal defence brought peace of mind.

With an awake though disgruntled, drowsy Yellow and Pokmon that were relatively healthy, the trio woke Riolu up so that he could check where the Grunt was. Ash shook Riolu awake, getting the Fighting-type to search for the aura of the Rocket Grunt. With Riolu and his knowledge that no one was within a solid 30m radius, they snuck through one of the tunnels with Riolu leading the group as their main source of evasion.

The time they were escaping through the tunnels was one of the very few times where the entire trio had a unanimous feeling: that of dread. There was a strong tension in the air as everyone had some sort of feeling that they were going to be found.

Riolu stopped them all at a right turn causing Leaf to check through her map. They were only a few turns away from the large chasm where the Cerulean City exit was. Ash asked Leaf if she could give the map to Riolu so that he could check if the Grunts were on their path.

Riolu looked at Leaf's map before pointing at one of the edges of the paper, just great. Riolu pointed at the large chasm that contained the exit. Ash sighed and shook his head since he'd already asked if there were any grunts near the Pewter City exit.

They were going to have to take the cards that they had been dealt, biting the bullet and trying to sneak past the criminals. The trio was pale and sweating bullets, they knew that the chasm was empty and barren. There were a few natural stone pillars that they could quickly hide behind if they were truly going to attempt it.

Maybe they could play it safely, breaking each light that illuminated the area so that they could sneak straight through the darkness? Maybe they could get Bulbasaur to use **Sleep Powder** to take down every single member? Chuchu's shortcircuit tactic could be used to incapacitate the members of Team Rocket whilst also using Pikachu's **Thunder Wave**.

Ash started looking at the situation strategically asking Riolu if he could point out where each grunt was. With a rough idea of where each target was, Ash was able to form a plan.

He knew that **Sleep Powder** did have a large radius, and, with **Gust** , he could focus it to take them down. During that confusion, Ash could use a widespread **Thunder Wave** discharge to ensure that they were all safe. Chuchu's more targeted incapacitating shocks mixed with her agility and speed may allow her to knock most of them down.

Ash checked the map and tried to delegate roles to each person in order to be as effective as possible. He knew that he had to make sure that they wouldn't take too long or they could be caught before were found and taken care of.

Ash looked around the corner and made sure that they could discuss their plan of action secretly, "Alright, can we start the escape with Bulbasaur's **Sleep Powder**? We can pull up our masks so that we can run through the cloud. With that, we can fan it towards them so that they all crowd at the front. Then we can have Riolu use **Screech** , that should be some good crowd control for the rest of our Pokémon to take them down."

"Chuchu can use her **Debilitating Shock** to take down the ones at the front. It takes a lot of precision to do it so we'll only be able to take down around three or four of them before we're noticed. I'm sure Pikachu could aid Chuchu so we should do some damage." Yellow piped in. Three was still something when there were 30 or so Rockets crowded in that one chasm.

That brings to question, what were they all doing in there? Was there a meeting or were they planning something? Maybe they were already escaping and it would be better for Ash, Leaf and Yellow to simply wait and see rather than go on the offensive.

Ash brought the idea up and was immediately shut down by Leaf. The brunette quickly and rationally reasoned that if they were going to be leaving, why were they still there? Riolu knew that the top floors were rather barren, telling them that they most likely weren't waiting for anyone.

The other idea, which Ash completely forgot about, the second group of Rocket Grunts surrounding the Pewter City exit. If they were all planning to leave, shouldn't they all go through the same exit? Even if the Grunts were going to different bases, they would at least split apart at different intervals so that it wasn't blatantly obvious that about 50 to 60 odd members of a criminal syndicate were escaping, practically begging to be captured.

Ash continued his plan, "After the **Sleep Powder** goes up, Chuchu can start using **Debilitating Shock** whilst Pikachu does a widespread **Thunder Wave,** maybe in the form of a **Discharge**? That should take quite a few out considering that those that aren't asleep are paralysed to one spot. Once we're done, I think we'll need to trap them in one spot. I know that using a **Flaming Dragon Pulse** will dent the ground and set it aflame. Any other suggestions?"

Leaf rose her hand, "I'm sure that Bulbasaur's **Vine Ram** can go dig underground. With that, I can surround the grunts before raising the ground so that we get a completely clean getaway."

With their plan ready to be put into motion, Ash asked Leaf to make sure that she had her taser out, the boy knew that there was going to be at least at one person that was out of reach of the Pokémon and would thus need to be taken down by the taser unless they were going to try and take them down unarmed, a completely idiotic move considering the fact that the grunts were going to be less than hesitant on attacking a child.

Ash raised five fingers, getting everyone to prepare themselves for what could be a very tough situation. As each finger fell down, all relaxation halted so that they could all focus.

Leaf wondered why Ash was so easy to rely on. Sure, he made the plans and was usually the greatest at thinking on his feet but there was some sort of aura around him that made him trustworthy. Maybe it was linked to the actual aura surrounding him, he mentioned that when they were reunited a few months ago.

Ash's final finger went down before Ash gestured for Bulbasaur to start. With their masks up, a cloud of blue dust rose erupted before Bulbasaur's slender vines started fanning them.

Holding their breath, the group excluding Riolu ran through the cloud, keeping their mouths closed whilst Riolu let out his sharp screech. With the noise going off, Ash ran as far as he could, waiting for the cloud to pass so that he could safely call for Pikachu to use **Thunder Wave**...

And they heard the zap of a taser and the bang of a gun discharge.

Ash's eyes widened as the cloud finally dispersed. Leaf had a flowing wound on her leg and a larger exit wound. Ash looked around only to see that the Rocket Grunts were all prepared, guns out and pointing at each of them.

Ash sighed, raising his hands and asking his friends to do the same like last time. They hadn't accounted for the Rocket Grunts having masks of their own... Something that would be essential for them considering they often used fumes and gas attacks like **Poison Powder** , **Stun Spore** , **Sleep Powder** , **Smog** etc.

He could tell Leaf was going to fight back but he gave her pleading look which caused her to bite her tongue and surrender as they'd already been caught once, they'd be treated much harsher this time. They needed some sort of miracle. In fact, that legendary Arceus had talked about a long time ago would be quite the lifesaver right around now. What were they doing, goofing off under a truck?

* * *

 **That last bit was a great transition, am I right? But anyway, I'm sorry that it took so long. This was meant to be done before October and yet here we are in February.**

 **I was going to take another month or so but then I realised something that made me feel a little bad. It had already been 6 months since the last main chapter so I needed to make sure that I posted something ASAP. After all, it doesn't seem like there are many other Furthershipping authors out there. This is probably ridden with errors and, mistakes so I hope that you all review and tell me about any other mistakes.**

 **I might be taking a break from this story for a bit since the rush burnt me out and writing and rewriting this story burnt me out. I'm going to dabble into another story briefly to see if its well received or not. If all goes well, me might be able to get back to this story within a month.**

 **Planned date of next chapter: 5/03/2099**

 **Until then my peeps...**


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